Laura's response: Part1

1.) The novel begins with one of the most famous first sentences in literature, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (pg. 5). What does this sentence mean and how does it set the tone for the novel?
To me this sentence means.......He's got the money now he needs to find a wife.  To me it seemed very important to have a wife but not necessarily a wife that he loved, and status plays a big part.

 2.) What are your feelings about Mr. Bennet? Is he a good father? A good husband? A good man? A positive or negative figure?  
I have no feeling one way or another about Mr. Bennet.  He appears to be a good father.  A father's role  in those days was so different then a father's role of today.  As a husband, he appears to be alittle abrasive with his wife.  I don't think Mr Bennet is overly positive or overly negative. 

3.) First impressions of Mr. Darcy. Good? Bad?
My first impression of Mr. Darcy was how rude he was, he also gave off this air about him as though he was better than every one else.

 4.) What is the role of women in the text? How are mothers represented? What about single/independent women?    
A womens role was to become a wife or she will become an old maid, with no worth.  Mothers appear to be obsessed with getting there girls married off to men with money, even if her daughters did not love the man.  I can understand the obsession because if her daughter did not get married by a certain age they would be worthless.  In those days being single and independent was not a womens lot in life, to me it appeared to be looked down upon from society, family, friends.  Being a women in those days had to have been difficult, they had no rights, few ways to care for themselves,  could not own property and if not married they were looked down upon.


5.) What does love and marriage mean to Mr. Collins?
At first love and marriage meant nothing until he found the right girl and fell in love.  He was willing to help the Bennet's family out by marring one of his daughter's but there seem to be no love there, just willing to help him out.   

6.) What do you think of the language Jane Austen uses throughout the novel? For example, “remember where you are, and do not run on in the wild manner that you are suffered to do at home.” (Ch. 9 pg. 43) What does this quote mean?  
The language has been difficult to read, sometimes a sentence does not make sense with the words she uses.   Sometimes she uses too many words to describe something simple, is this how they talked in those days or is this how a writer writes there stories.  I think it is both.  Sometimes i would read a sentence like page 43 and think why would you use the word suffer and why can't you just say this with more simple words.  I noticed as i read on that she does this alot and i better get use to it.