Laura's response to Sense and Sensibility questions

1.)  Talk about the significance of Austen's title. What is the difference in meaning between the words "sense" and "sensibility" ... and which sister represents which word? Which word most represents your own approach to life and love? Which matters more...or are they both equally important in choosing a mate?  

I feel that Elinor represents sense and sensibility through out the whole book, she was very wise of the world and with feelings of men and women.  Marianne in my opinion had no sense or sensibility at least at the beginning.  Marianne was young and impressionable and had a false sense of dreamy romance but in time went on she gained more maturity and with maturity comes more sense and sensibility.  I feel when i was young i was a person with sense but now that i am older i feel i have both.  I feel that both are important in choosing a mate.

2.)  Looking deeper into the sub-characters in Sense and Sensibility what are your opinions of Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Fanny Dashwood, and Lucy Steele?

I really like Mrs. Jennings, she was a happy women who was more than happy to find husbands for every women she knew.  She seemed to be always happy with a sense of humor and a love for her family.  Fanny on the other hand is rude and selfish, i did not like Fanny.   At first i was not sure what i thought of Lucy, sometimes i thought she liked hurting Elinor and was alittle sneaky but in the end she appeared to have had her own grown up revolution.

3.)  What are your impressions of Elinor? What are your impressions of Edward? Are they a good match?

Elinor is more mature to me, she is more wise to the world, she is more reserved with her manners, thoughts and behavior and i feel that Edward is very much the same, Edward is a great match for Elinor.

4.) After Colonel Brandon told Elinor about his and Willoughby’s past, did it offer deeper insight into their characters? Did your impression of either change?    

Yes and no....learning of there past told us exactly what kind of people they are.  I love Col. Brandon, he has love and passion and is loaded with compassion, and i saw that when Col Brandon showed up for a dinner at Mrs. Jennings home.  When Col Brandon first saw Marianne playing the piano forte, he was in love.  When i heard about Willoughby's past, it did change my mind about him, Willoughby is a player, in modern terms and i don't like players.

5.) What is your impression of Marianne at the Beginning of the novel? What is your impression of Marianne at the end of the novel?

At the beginning Marianne was a hopeless romantic and immature and during the course of the book she encounter life's pains that helped her to mature and see life with more sense and sensibility.

6.)  What were Willoughby’s motives for coming to talk to Elinor while Marianne was sick?

I was surprised when i read this part because this part was not in the movie, but i felt like all he wanted was to justify himself to Marianne and her family, I felt like Willoughby is selfish.and it seemed to me that he had very little feeling at the fact that she was extremely ill.  

7.) Do you feel Willoughby truly loved Marianne? If so why or why not?

Yes i do feel he loved her but not in a soul mate way.  He was not willing to give up the money to have a real soul mate love.

8.)  Do you think Colonel Brandon and Marianne are a good match? Is it completely out of character for Marianne to end up with Colonel Brandon? Is she abandoning her romantic ideals?

I do admit that they are a strange match, but Col. Brandon is a true honest loving down to earth man who loves Marianne.  They definitely were not a good match in the beginning.  But i feel that as Marianne went through all of her drama with Willoughby her romantic ideals completely softened and that is why i feel she took a second look at Col. Brandon.

9.) When do you think Marianne fell in love with Colonel Brandon?

Well i think in the movie she fell in love with him when he brought his mother to her when she was ill.  The moment Col. Brandon started to leave the room after the mother entered to be with Marianne, she looked at him with honest, affectionate, down to earth look and said Col. Brandon thank you, and his look to me is priceless.  In the book i feel she fell in love with him at the very end and i mean at the end of the book. Neither movie or book gave much romance  for them and i was alittle disappointed but with certain looks in the movie i got felt the love and romance between the two and so glad they got together.

10.)  Do you find the ending satisfactory for both sisters? Do you feel the two make the right choice for happiness? Why or why not?

Yes i do feel satisfied with the ending with both sisters, they both found there true soul mates at what first started off with a tragic event of there father passing away.  Yes i do feel they both made the right choice, they both acted very happy in the end.

11.) What are “second attachments” and how are they important to this story?

To me i feel like second attachments are like the next boyfriend/girlfriend.  In this book for example Lucy Steele was engaged to to Edward, but feel in love with his brother Robert so to me Robert is the second attachment.

12.) What role did marriage and social class play throughout this novel? How were the characters affected by it?  

Social class played alot, because Fanny, Edwards sister did not want her brothers to marry the Dashwood girls  because they were considered poor/of not the right class.  Well i have to say it started off classes not mixing at all but in the end the classes mixed together and mixed together well.

13.) How does Sense and Sensibility compare to Pride and Prejudice?

This book has less chacters for one, but both books have the same feel of finding a husband with money and rank but i feel that SS had more emotional feelings and more back ground with the characters.  I really loved SS more.

14.) Would you recommend this novel to a friend? Why or why not?

I always do......I love this book and movie so much.  I love all the characters, i love the interaction with the characters.  I also love the houses, costumes, the language and mainly the story.

15.) Compare and contrast the 1995 movie version of Sense and Sensibility to the novel.

They are both very much the same, although i did notice there were some parts were more elaborated in the book vs the movie.  The ends were really different but the same.......meaning the same ending happened but the movie showed more step by step towards the ending.  In the book i was alittle disappointed because after Marianne was sick and came home there still was no connection between her and Col. Brandon and i feel the book put them together on the last page of the book, were the movie gave them alittle more romance between them...not much but more than the book.  Edward and Elinor played out the same in the book and the movie.




My final thoughts........I have always loved this movie  and i have always wanted to read the book and i am so glad i read it.  I now love both the movie and the book and her writing in this book was to me a very different style than P and P. and i loved that style. I can't believe i have read 2 of  Jane Austens books and look forward to reading the rest.  She will always be my favorite author, her books bring me back to a time that i admire and love.