Circle day

I thought that todays circle was good for a number of reasons
It promoted class camaraderie, it helped us relate to the book and the relationship issues in it, it helped us solidify our own ideas on relationships today and in the novel, gave us new perspectives, was a nice break from the class paradyme, allowed us to have more fun, and took off some stress (especially at the end of the day on Halloween.

The meat of the discussion wasn't all that meaty. Yes we discussed the book and relationships and a
all of the stuff I said in the previous paragraph, but we all knew and agreed with all of the things that were said. With more girls, the discussion would have been fantastic, but as it was, it was just good. I liked it

Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Austen illuminates the class and gender inequalities in marriage and courtship. She uses Collins’ exaggerated character and power over the Bennet daughters and entail to show the reader how wrong it is that someone (especially Collins) should control the matrimony and estate of an entire family simply because it has no sons. Wickham’s ploys for money show the immense power over relationships that men had due entailment. Mrs. Bennet’s hyperbolic dedication to marrying off her daughters illustrates the powerlessness that poor (relatively poor) women had in marriage because of entailment. Austen’s main motive behind each of these satires was the desire to show the world how awful it was that rich men were dominant in relationships because of the accepted rules of entailment.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2011. Ebook.

keep in mind, this is just a draft and i will definitely edit it more

Austen uses discussions of entailment involving Collins in order to satirize the dominance of rich men in relationships due to entailment, a practice Austen thought of as unfair. In chapter 13, Mr. Bennet receives a letter from a man whom he has never met and who will be his heir, Mr. Collins. In this letter, Collins writes “I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends”(JONAH). It is important to note that Collins brags and uses the rules of courtesy to a ridiculous extent immediately before this statement. This combined with the false, overly-courteous apology that Collins gives here for having to inherit the Bennet fortune over the 5 Bennet daughters is a satirical extreme of what Austen thinks of as wrong with entailment. But it does hone in on one of her main messages: that a man should not be in control of an entire family just because that family did not have a son, especially in so ridiculous a case as the Bennet’s. Later on, Collins proposes to Elizabeth because he is going to inherit the Bennet estate, and he “could not satisfy [himself] without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters, that the loss to them might be as little as possible” (76). This statement brings forbearance the fact that because he is a man, Collins can control the matrimony of the Bennet daughters and, later on, their money. Collins brings this to light in such a rude and over-exaggerated manner that he (but really Austen) essentially says to the reader: look how awful and ridiculous a man’s control over women is due to entailment. Eventually, Collins marries Charlotte, a 27-year old woman of a lower class who has no adult brothers. When Elizabeth visits them, she sees that Charlotte is unhappy in her marriage and purposefully sits in a small, tucked-away room because “Mr. Collins would undoubtedly have been much less in his own apartment had they sat in one equally lively” (116). Though it may not seem like one, this quote is really a discussion of entailment (it is also one involving Collins, go loopholes!). It says the Charlotte is putting up with an unhappy marriage because of the rules of entailment. Charlotte only gets married to Collins because he has property, she has to in order for her younger siblings to be married, and she might never get another offer of marriage; Collins only marries Charlotte so that he could please his economic superior and because all men had to get married back then. Clearly, Charlotte’s marriage, and the satirical light that is cast upon it by Elizabeth’s mentions of Charlotte’s unhappiness, is a means by which Austen criticizes the omnipotence that rich men have in relationships. Collins’ ridiculous dedication to rules of entailment combined with his ridiculous nature are a means by which Austen can satirize an injustice she sees in the world: rich male dominance over relationships.

intro paragraph

In 1813 England, courtship and marriage were almost entirely determined by gender and class. This was so because property could only follow male lineage and everybody wanted to ‘marry up’; this institution was called entailment. Austen uses Collins’ speeches of entailment in order to satirize the dominance of rich men in relationships due to entailment, a practice Austen thought of as unfair. Austen also utilizes Wickham’s attempts to make money off of entailment as an attack on the power that men had over relationships and money, regardless of their deservedness. The wild words of Mrs. Bennet, juxtaposed by those of more realistic characters, show the reader how ridiculous Austen thought entailment, with all of its inequalities, was. Through discussions of entailment, Austen uses her ever-present satire to show the unfair weight that class and gender had in determining courtship and marriage.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUTLINE

Intro: talk about marriage back then and Austen's life and whatever
Thesis: Austen uses discussions of entailment to blah blah blah through satire
First: my main idea will be how Collins' discussions of entailment combine with his ridiculous nature to show Austen's opinion of entailment. One quote will be from his proposal, another from his conversations about Lady Catherine, and another will be from his letter to Mr. Bennet
Second: My main idea will be about all of the sympathies and stuff the Bennets get from people who rank higher than they do about their entailment...obvious satire. There was one from LCDB, another from Gardiner, and i think one from Miss Bingley; if one of those is not really real, I'm sure there are more that i can find.
Third: how ridiculous Mrs. Bennet is and all of the things she says about entailment and how she doesnt understand it and what she does with her daughters. Quotes: the one where she doesnt understand it, where she is okay with "killing" Jane, where she tries to push Lizzy into marriage with her cousin (especially with the dose of normal that Mr. Bennet gives to that whole situation), and where she is talked of as crazy/calls herself crazy for being so dedicated to marring-off her girls.
Conclusion- conclude

My self-made question: How does Austen reveal her opinion on the role of class and gender in courtship/marriage through discussions of entailment?
My task: to write the greatest essay ever, get an a, get a full ride scholarship to Harvard, and save the world.
My plan: my first paragraph will discuss Mrs. Bennet's relationship with entailment, her confusion about it, her dedication to martying off her girls, and the crazy things she does to get her daughters married. The next paragraph will be about all that Collins says about entailment, because he says some pretty funny things and is a significant caricature. The last paragraph will be about the pov of the bennets' entailment from people other than the Mom. These will probably be not in that order.
My grade: 100%

Whoops, did the blogging assignment before seeing the details online.

1) Disagree
2) Mostly agree
3) Agree
4) Disagree
5) Agree

I think I covered the bottom part of the assignment

D. W. Harding assignment thing

D. W. Harding's argument is that the population who has not read Austen believes that she is a harsh satirist who openly criticized the virtues and values of her society. When he read her books, Harding realized that she is critical of society because she needs to vent her dissatisfactions with it (not for pure hatred and attacking), and in a way that was acceptable to the people around her. What was acceptable was caricatures of people who interact with realer and realer people eventually leading to a real person with whom people can be compared. She also presents real criticisms of people she knows but with the mask of "this is just a caricature like the other characters, not meant to harm."  He also realizes that even in these exaggerated people who attack only "small" flaws of people whom she knew, there is a deeper underlying attack of society as a whole that her contemporaries did not see because of the attacks of others that were civil enough to be laughed at but not offended by. Then, he concludes by denouncing his argument by saying that he is just pointing out the good parts (and acknowledging the bad parts) of Austen's writing to reduce the "haters" of her writing.

I agree with his argument that she satirizes carefully with caricatures and things like that, and that there is always an underlying attack on society as a whole. I also recognize that Austen does not attack purely out of malice, rather a need to show the world all of the bad things she saw in society. It makes sense, too, that he would think of her books as a way for social outcasts and critics to escape the real world.

I disagree with the notion that Austen is always subtle with her criticisms. When you read her books, you know exactly what/who she's attacking and when she is doing it. Yes, she does use the techniques mentioned earlier, but she also directly criticizes people by attacking their main flaws. For example, she attacks social rules with the ridiculousness of Collins' nature outright just by having him speak in the story. Her attack on society as a whole is not purely out of malice, but there is a little bit of it. Also, it is not only a way for social outcasts and critics to escape the real world, it is also a means by which they can attack society. so really, contrary to Harding's argument, it is a harsh satire. And, he provided an argument against his own, which means (for me) that not even he fully agreed with his main points

ipads and collins videos

the ipads could be good if they were used better

If students didnt play/imessagwe/imgur etc. all throughout class and actually used the ipads for their sharing capabilities that would be good.

If kno were better. I dont know how to improve it or what is bad with it (neither would be usefut to put in this blog), but i know that it is certainly not perfect and would make the reading experience better if it was.

ipads are distacting by nature--- i know i cant only read when i set out to read. whereas with a book i could read it all without diverting off

Nobody told us why ipads would be so great, so we are left with our naturally cynical and negative teenager view of them with little positives other than that they are fun. we were also not asked if we wanted them--not a good thing with teenagers

human psychology and neurology dictate that when you do a certain action over and over with a certain object, you become less able to do another task with the same object. this applies to the ipads because all we do with them is play, socialize, and procrastinate; and when it comes time to actually work, we cant because it is ingrained in us that "when i hold this device, i am playing."

the colluns activity was really good because it promoted bonding between the class, made the material relatable, made us understand the section, and sparked interest in the rest of the novel.