Persuasion By Jane Austen

I was asked by the lecturer to read just one chapter from this book as part of our assignment. Initially, the title and author wasn't given and although I guessed it was by Shakespeare, Lawra got it right by saying it was Jane Austen. Only then did I realize the names of the characters and plugged it down as Persuasion. What else, right??

Trust Mathew to make sure the class gets more hands-on time than our actual attention from the books. I was immediately excited by this because as everyone probably knows, Jane Austen rights love stories. Classic love stories to be exact. I mean, sure they're historical romance but because Jane was from that era, it would be appropriate to peg them as classical.

So excited I was that I was going to jump the gun and buy the book. I already knew where it was and how much it cost. Although I didn't in the end --damn you, Times Plaza Singapura!!-- because I decided to wing it and just read the damn thing online.

Nick said it was such a problem to comprehend, which kinda scared me a little. Here I was thinking, how bad can it get, right?? And frankly speaking, it was HARD. I took such a long time to do it I thought I was never going to complete this assignment ever.

Anywayz, I just thought I'd pen down my thoughts for the chapter here. And this is the link to the chapter. Although I don't think any of you sane souls would bother going due to the fact that you don't read romances, much less classical ones telling tales of a love lost and found. This is Chapter 23 taken from Jane Austen's Persuasion.

In the context of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, it is to be understood that Captain Harville was actually communicating with Captain Wentworth about his letter and not Anne. This was the letter believed to be for Anne’s personal reading.

It is in Anne’s point of view that men lose interest in women too easily and at a faster pace then women do. This thus proves Anne’s point in the inconsistency in the nature of a man.

Even though it amounts to the same conclusion, there is vast difference between the love of a man and that of a woman. A woman may have poetic notions about love that a man might openly sniff in disdain at and would prefer going into battle than admit to his true feelings.

However stubborn a man might be in revealing his feelings, it does not necessarily mean he is void of emotion. In such delicate matters dealing with the heart, a man would rather show than tell. Although, this is sometimes the opposite of what women want.

Captain Harville rebuffs the thought of men showing the lack of feeling, as he is a married man himself. He should know better when he leaves the love of his life and his children to go out to sea.

It is said that men find it easier to find love even after losing it. However, that does not necessarily mean the love lost is being cast aside. It is a part of them moving on. While a women find it harder to do so because their heart might still be attached to the one they deemed their true love.

In the story it states that because during that era, men had professions and were expected to go out to work. Therefore, their feelings of love and affection were stored at the back of their minds and can be easily forgotten.

A woman, on the other hand were housewives whose work revolved around doing the household chores and taking care of children. While this doesn’t really require much stress, it allows a woman’s mind to frequently slip towards the subject of her loved ones.

Ultimately, as different as these two species of human are, their goal arrives at the same port. It is to love and be loved in return. It matters not of the way a person loves but how his/her love shines through. Only one who has truly been in the presence of love can decipher the true meaning of it.

Laterz...
Lenny