Fiction of Austen

1
Fiction of Austen

• To insert your company logo on this slide
• From the Insert Menu
• Select Picture
• Locate your logo file
• Click OK
• To resize the logo
• Click anywhere inside the logo. The boxes that
  appear outside the logo are known as resize
  handles.
• Use these to resize the object.
• If you hold down the shift key before using the
  resize handles, you will maintain the proportions
  of the object you wish to resize.

• South Charleston High School
• Kanawha County Schools

How does the fiction of Jane Austen reflect late
18th and early 19th centuries in Great Britain?
2
Content

• Importance of Property
• Primogenitureeldest male inherits family
  property practice guarantees subordinate
  position for women and makes elaborate rituals
  associated with marriage possible
• Landed wealth coupled with inherited social
  position lack of social mobility and acceptance
  in upper classes
• Rise of the middle class values within the power
  structure of England--
• without titles but occasionally had great wealth.
  It challenged the landed gentry for the position
  of who would influence Great Britain in the 19th
  century. Presages a shift in power away from the
  landed gentry to the growing middle class

3
Content

• Social Customs
• Equated to the moral health of the nationA
  nation was only as good as the individuals who
  made up that nation
• Perpetuated by the familyRole of the family is
  to ensure adherence to social conventions in
  order to maintain the status quo
• based on a hierarchy
  
  the great house, social
  connections, small villages, noblesse oblige
• elaborate rituals, frequently associated with
  marriage marriage
  mart, coming out, order of marriage, balls,
• perpetuated a lack of social mobility
  
  individuals were born with family connections and
  certain status

4
Content

• Literary Parody Austens fiction is a reaction
  against elements found in Gothic novels and
  sentimental fiction
• Return to Neo-classical era for style
• comedy of manners, witty dialogue, sparkling
  conversations, juxtapositions and importance of
  form
• Development of Realism and the anti-hero
  interest in daily life and minute social customs
  moved literature away from the heroic and
  sentimental
• Use of Gentle satireAusten satirizes the form of
  current literature as well as the minute concerns
  and characteristics of the various social classes

5
Structure and Mechanics

• Be consistent in register choiceIn this time
  period, most works were gothic stories which
  Austen found as a joke
• Provide a thesis statement which identifies the
  premise
• Have a discernible beginning, middle and end
• Use paragraphing for sub-sections
• Choose precise phrasing rather than vague ,
  unspecified statementsIn the days of Jane
  Austen, there was a specific social structure
  that general society followed.

6
Structure and Mechanics

• Practice subordination and logical break-downs
  and build-ups
• Show relationships of parts
• Use transitional words and phrases between minor
  and major ideas
• Sub-sections require topic sentences
• Know appropriate terminology for literate
  discussion primogeniture, entailment, avowdsons,
  noblesse oblige, dowry, gentry

7
Structure and Mechanics

• Make a premise and prove it with details, facts,
  illustrations and examples from the book
• Pay attention to the importance and function of
  the introduction
• Dont editorialize
• Avoid overworked clichés
  saw the Industrial
  Revolution coming and jumped on the band wagon
  early were breaking out of their place in society

8
Mechanics

• Discuss literature in present tense
• Never refer to author by first name Jane
  portrayed manners in her book
• Never refer to author as Miss. Or Mr..
• Use 2nd person you only for rhetorical purposes

9
Structure and Mechanics

• Be consistent in the choice of person-- (1st,
  2nd, 3rd),
• Use appropriate pronouns to agree with
  antecedents
• Check that subjects and verbs agree
• Avoid unclear pronoun reference-- This, those,
  it, they
• By this time, Charlotte was already twenty-seven
  years old, and considered this to possibly be her
  only chance of marriage to anyone of sufficient
  income. In the 18th century, this was not uncommon