Sense and Sensibilty

I haven't been able to read any of the books on the list (the one's I'm dedicated to reviewing), so I'll just write a little bit about the books I'm reading in class. I just finished reading Jane Austen's first published novel, Sense and Sensibility.  Here are a few of my thoughts on the novel in list form.

1) It's obvious that Jane Austen is a feminist writer, writing in the interest of women.

2) With that said, Austen's feminism is a "petty" or bourgeoisie feminism which does not include issues of class, race, etc. There is an entire group of working class women (mainly maids) who are not given a voice in her works. This shows us that not only is there inequality between the sexes but there also exists inequality between women.

3) The novel is the story of two sisters Marianne and Elinor who, of course, are looking to marry. There are other mitigating circumstances: their brother, who is married to an atypically overbearing wife, has inherited the house and the fortune which means the Marianne and Elinor are largely dependent upon his good will.

4) That's about it. Of course they both marry and live happily ever after. That's the only thing that really bothers me about Austen-- the happy endings. It makes it harder for people to see past the fairy tale-- the seemingly idyllic life of the characters to the bigger issues at hand-- sexism, classism.

5) -Isms are a plague. Get rid of them.