“Sense and Sensibility” written by Austen is a book about two women named Elinor Dashwood, and Marianne Dashwood, and their families. In my opinion, the title means the relationship they have with their significant others. I think this because they show sense which means to have restraint and they show sensibility which means to give way to emotion. These two words describe the two main characters' personalities and the way they act. The genre of this book is romance novels. The setting for this book is Devonshire in a Barstow Cottage home. The time period is between 1800 and 1816
A. Exposition
The characters involved are Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, Margaret Dashwood, Henry Dashwood, Mrs. Dashwood, John Dashwood, and Sir John Middleton. Elinor Dashwood is the oldest daughter 19 years old. Elinor is also one of the main protagonists and she is a foil to her sister Marianne. In addition, Elinor is the more calm person in the family. Marianne Dashwood is a 17 years old girl and is a romantic person she is also the middle child. Marianne is more aggressive than Elinor and she is deeply into love and romance. Margaret Dashwood is the youngest sister out of all of them being 13. Margaret likes to follow in her older sister Marianne's romantic ideas but not to her older sister's extreme. Margaret also is a fun person and is invited to most social invitations. Henry Dashwood is the father of the household and is messed up because he leaves them and gives little money and his son's estate. John Dashwood is the only son in the family and is described as selfish and he is also mean to his sisters. Sir John Middleton is the landlord of the Dashwood family. He is a kind person and in a way the father of the daughters because he takes care of them and makes sure they are ok.
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B. Conflict
The conflict of this story is Elinor and Marianne trying to get a successful partner and marry them. This can be seen when Marianne gets a boyfriend and she thinks he is going to marry him but he dumps her. Another example is when Elinor gets a boyfriend but then finds out he is secretly engaged to someone. The conflict is basically their struggles in getting a husband. Elinor shows sense when she finds out her boyfriend is already engaged. On the other hand, Marianne when she gets dumped is super emotional and almost dies because she is too extreme this shows that she shows sensibility.
C. Rising Action
The rising action of this story is after the situation where Elinor and Marianne's boyfriends dump them. The rising action is when they go to London. They go because Mrs. Jeggings asks them if they wanted to go on a trip with her. Both the sisters did not want to go at first because they were afraid they would run into them and they would have no clue what to say. The rising action happens when they go to London and are about to meet their exes. This is the rising action because they are about to discuss some important details.
D. Climax
The climax of this story is when Elinor and Marianne meet their exes in London. The first thing that happens is Marianne tries to get back at Willoughby her ex. Things go south and he evades her and then later sends Marianne a letter that he will never get back to her. This causes Marianne to go in shock and becomes very sad. Elinor climax is when she finds out that the reason her boyfriend broke up with her was that her ex's parents wanted him to marry an heiress. It also turns out that He was already engaged when he was dating Elinor. This makes Elinor sad and her sister Marianne apology’s because she was mean to her about the situation.
E. Falling action
The falling action of this book is when Marianne goes outside and catches a cold. This gets dangerous and she becomes relay I’ll because of the situation with her ex. She almost dies but then her family takes her home and they take care of her. Then her ex comes back because he knows he is the cause of this and apologized. He tells her he loved her but only married the other girl for money. He also tells her that she was his true love and that he was truly sorry. This makes Marianne calm down and later get back in shape.
F. Resolution
The resolution of this book is when her ex comes back to Elinor. He talks to her and they become a thing again. He breaks up with his wife to marry Elinor. Elinor finally finds her own happiness. Marianne's ex becomes broke and he gets disowned by his family and all the money he was supposed to get goes to his younger brother. Both of the sisters are happy and both get good endings.
Main Character
I believe the novel had 2 protagonists. The first being Marianne and the other being Elinor. I believe this because it talks about their points of view on the situations that happen in the book. Also, I believe the name of the book matches their personalities one has a sense is calm and the other is Sensibility and is a bit extreme. This shows that they are character foils. I also think the main characters because the book talks about their relationships.
Antagonist
I believe the antagonist was Lucy, Edward, and Willoughby. This is because the book talks about how Lucy Is Elinor's enemy because she made Edward think that Elinor was a bad person. I also believe that Edward was an antagonist because he made Elinor depressed. Another antagonist is Willoughby because he makes Marianne sick and almost causes her to die
Favorite Character
My favorite character was Elinor. This is because she was calm and an overall nice person. I also think she is cool and strong because she kept a lot of deep stuff to herself and stayed strong about it. Like when her ex broke up with her because it turned out he was already engaged. She stayed strong about it and did not tell anyone.
Theme
I believe the theme of this story is to stay strong and good things will come to you. I believe this is the theme because Elinor stayed strong and ended up getting the man she loved. Another reason why I think that is the theme is that Marianne got stronger towards the end and ended up getting good luck. I believe this was a good book because it has a nice message and is overall fun to read.
Work Cited
- Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. Routledge, 1994.
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