Jane Austen’s novels, specifically Northanger Abbey, have key undertones of modernity. Namely, the heroine struggles with this modernity as a passage of their bildungsroman. These struggles with modernity are relatable and help to Austen’s success throughout the 19th, 20th and now 21st century. Catherine Morland, heroine of Northanger Abbey, confronts the influence of Gothic fiction which is widely available for the female audience and she opposes the political unrest during that period; the threat of riots and war of the age. Gothic fiction became socially acceptable around the time Austen was writing Northanger.
Since Standard English is usually time consuming to construct and difficult to use, people find it easier to use non-standard English, where the governing rules and grammar are more flexible making it efficient and easy to use. Non-standard English also complements and makes using technology less difficult and more efficient e.g. using numbers in a text “w8 4 me”. Using non-standard English also helps an individual represent and express one self-e.g. Lebanese people using words such as “cuz” for “cousin “ or Afghan origin people using the word “bachem” for brother in English.
Aunt Fay writes to her niece Alice in the hope of teaching her about Austen and her writing and what better way to do that than by direct reference to Austen’s most successful text, Pride and Prejudice? Weldon in turn helps the actual reader understand Pride and Prejudice by commenting on the characters’ behaviour and the plot by giving her personal opinion, as well as identifying typical language features and explaining why Austen is valued today. She expresses empathy for Mrs Bennet which encourages the reader to reconsider their own opinion Her use of first person language tells the reader that they are reading a biased opinion, but also helps the reader trust Weldon as she is speaking
An example is seen near the beginning of the book in which Mr Darcey and Mr Binley’s brother are engaged in polite conversation. Darcey’s constant want to read prompts Binley’s brother to state “he studies too much.” This dialogue employed by Austen raises an important issue, though disguised in polite conversation. The effect of this shows us, as the reader, the view that society held towards being too educated, and this was directed at a man! In contrast Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice raises almost the complete opposite view of education. Aunty Fay is a concerned Aunt who is trying to get her neice, Alice, to engage in studies, however Alice’s interests lie elsewhere.
This means children are now expensive to have and people do not have the money to have as many children as they used too. Medical advances have been a consequence to the changes in population. Due to improvements in midwifery and immunisation, the infant mortality rate has decreased significantly. This now means partners do not need to have as many children as it is more certain their child will live through their childhood. This was not the case at the beginning of the 20th century.
As the former role was commonly seen as more valuable than the latter, this often meant that the husband held most of the power, such as deciding where they would live, how resources were distributed, etc. In theory, the distribution of power in the relationship has shifted due to both the integration of women into the workforce and the emergence of the “new man” who does a fair share of domestic labour. However, this is not necessarily borne out by the evidence. Dryden (1999) studied 17 married couples and found that women still do the vast majority of housework. This could almost be dismissed as a hangover from traditional values or the result of still-prominent stay-at-home mothers, except that it remains true when both members are working full-time, and even in some cases where only the woman is in employment.
Edwidge Danticat has been a phenomenon for some time now though I doubt it’s because of her writing. Anyone who allows themselves a literary review of her work will find it often comes up short as does this, her latest effort. What mars her work is a strange juxtaposition of overly formal language with a crushingly sentimental storytellers eye. They are hard to merge, but somehow she does. In this novel we begin much to slowly and continue in this way.
When she wrote Charlotte Temple she had never been to New York so her ability to describe the society was a little harder for Rowson. Lucy Temple is considered the sequel to Charlotte Temple. There are certain themes and characters that connect both novels but in style they are not quite the same. This is most likely due to her age and experience in life. Obviously it is easier to describe a country home and its surroundings easier since she had lived in England.
Their discussion may be TOO GENERAL. They may even misunderstand some aspects of the literary work(s). These essays are adequately written but may demonstrate inconsistent control over the elements of effective writing. Organization is evident, but it may not be fully realized or particularly coherent. C- (2-3): These essays address the main ideas involved in the question/topic, but they do so inaccurately or without the support of APPROPRIATE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE.
“The critic asks “is this believable?” The novelist, “how can I get them to believe this”? In short she argues that a good novelist always has some sort of conflict to tell and it must be suspenseful. “Something other than breakfast”. She uses witty humour to loosen the audience up. Atwood discusses the several genres of fiction that are available in this time and explains how this is not only a time of gender crossover but of genre crossover.