Last year of university, I had read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for a course. Which ended up with me adding all of her books to my to-be-read list. You can understand that I was very excited when I saw this book on the reading list for the current course that I'm taking. Jane Austen has a particular style and setting for her books, and this is something that you must enjoy. If not, then you probably will not enjoy her books. I have one friend that adores Jane Austen, the other, not so much. It is very personal, but I am on the positive side of the coin.
For this course, I did not only need to read the book, but I also watched the BBC adaptation of 1983, which is a series of 6 episodes, and I watched the film adaptation of 1999. It is very weird to be watching so many old films, as I am used to these modern techniques and quality. But you know what, I actually enjoyed it. But back to the book. Mansfield Park is set in the early 19th century. Fanny, the heroine of the story, is taken to live with the Bertram family at the age of 10, as she is their niece. Here, at Mansfield Park, she grows up and gets accustomed to their life in wealth, while she comes from a poor family (her mother married beneath her). Fanny gets a close relationship with her cousin Edmund and during the book we see the relationship between the Bertram children and Fanny evolve.
As the other Jane Austen novel that I've read. The book is all about social relationships, wealth, and sort of love, but modest. Austen opens the book going into explaining the marriages of the 3 sisters, Mrs Bertram, Fanny's Mother and Mrs Norris. Talking about how much their husbands earn and if it was a good match. This was very important these days because we are shown that when marrying beneath you, like Fanny's mother, life is a lot harder and stressful. Austen's style is also very telling, which was common at that time. Sometimes, even entire conversations are told instead of happening at that moment. This was also something that I needed to get used to, but eventually, I didn't have much problem with it.
When Mansfield Park was originally published, it sold very well. It was very of that time and Fanny was a loved main character. Nowadays, Fanny is the least liked heroine of Austen. She is often accused of being judgemental, non-active and being too obedient. Which I think is true, but also not true. When looking at Fanny Price, we must see the social context in which she lived and in that context, Fanny fitted in perfectly. Nowadays, we have different beliefs, but also different preferences in the main characters. Most people want to read characters that come up for themselves and that are part of the action. Fanny is just different. Austen had 2 types of main characters, heroines that are wrong (and will learn throughout the book) and heroines that are right (and others will learn throughout the book). Fanny is a heroine that is right. In her education, she has learned a set of values and morals, during the novel she sticks to them and lives up to the expectation of behaving like a woman in that time. I say 'like a woman' here because the standards were very different back then. Fanny has the right opinions about certain things or people from the beginning and she stays true to her beliefs. While Edmund, with the same set of values, is someone that falters to stay true to them. He is the one who's eyes are eventually opened at the end, Fanny seemed to know it all along.
Because of the passiveness of Fanny, it is understandable to watch the story play out through her eyes. While this is not everyone's taste, as Fanny is almost always on the sideline, it does create a sort of reliable frame of narrating (almost). That Fanny might seem very judgemental on certain topics is because she stays true to her values, while others are not. Which makes her irritated or angry, because she is the one that has it right. We see this in the staging of the play for example. Edmund eventually gives in, while Fanny does not participate. When Sir Thomas (the father) comes home, we are shown that Fanny was right all along and the others just behaved on their own wishes.
Okay, I think I have explained enough now. So, here's my opinion. This wasn't my favourite Jane Austen novel. I only read Pride and Prejudice of her works, but I can already say that Mansfield Park might never be my favourite, but that doesn't mean that it was good. It was actually. The sometimes long description did wear me out sometimes, and I would have taken more time to read it if I had. But since I need to read at least one book a week for university, I cannot permit myself such time. When reading Mansfield Park, however, I started to want to read other books of her too. Mansfield Park did raise my appreciation of the writer. I found it good and fun but this is very personal, and I totally agree why others might not like it. But for me, Jane Austen will definitely be on my reading list for next year.
Keep reading,
Julia
Interested in reading Mansfield Park? You can buy it here (this is an affiliate link).
(if you want a pretty edition, click this link :D)
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