In Jane Austen’s social sphere, manners dominated the rules of behavior, and everyone was judged by them.  Polite society required adherence to the conventions; it was imperative to know your place in the pecking order and follow the rules assigned to preserve the social order. This required a general agreement to be pleasing, polite, and deferential based on the status of those in your immediate orb.  However, one character’s perception of agreeable behavior may not always b

Self portrait 2023 As 2025 closes out, I invite you to review my blog posts of the past year where I examine the social dynamics of Jane Austen’s time and how it influenced her writings to reveal universal truths that are so relatable in contemporary life. Many thanks to all who have allowed me to share my thoughts and graced me by reading them. Happy New Year! Wishing all my Janeite friends and followers a prosperous 2026. Jane Austen – To Have and Have Not Jane Austen’s

Misguided notions are a theme throughout Jane Austen’s novels.  She was very observant of social positions because her family lived on the periphery of wealthier relatives and acquaintances.  Propriety demanded people stay within their rank with occasional exceptions made for intelligent, resourceful women whose attractions allured suitors. Jane presents many amusing situations in which individuals blinded by initial perceptions abruptly encounter the shock of reality and are

Beneath the romantic stories of love and longing surges an undercurrent of frustration and anger over the many ways in which women were dismissed and discarded by society during Jane Austen’s life.  The loss of patriarchal protection and looming poverty was a shadow hiding in the corner waiting to emerge in her own life and her vexation springs forth through the plights of her characters.  As Jane wrote in a letter to Fanny Knight, “Single women have a dreadful propensity for

W as Jane Austen a cynic at heart?  Consider the opinion espoused by Elizabeth Bennet at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice: “There are...

Original art displaying connections between Jane Austen's characters What did you do when the Coronavirus besieged the entire world and...

Jane Austen’s innate understanding of human nature is an indicator of her extraordinary emotional intelligence which she infused into...

Brothers take a back seat in Jane Austen’s novels; still, they do play an essential role in her stories as well as her life. In her...

Were Jane Austen’s sometimes comical and often less than flattering observations about the clergy merely a plot device to amuse us, or...

Dido Elizabeth Belle by David Martin I am compelled to amend my blog post from February 2024, “Was Jane Austen a Closet Abolitionist?”,...

Love is in the air when Valentine’s Day rolls around and we can thank our dear Jane for providing some of the most timeless love stories...

Financial insecurity can define a person’s life in any era.  For some it may be overcome through good fortune or hard work, for others...

Holiday traditions in Jane Austen’s time were quite different from our own.  Christmas trees didn’t become common place until the...

Fans of Jane Austen, those who read her stories and those who write stories in homage to her canon, are all students of human nature...

(Note to readers: This post has been amended to include Henry Crawford.) Enter Henry Tilney when ingenue Catherine Moreland attends her...

Jane Austen fans are romantics at heart.  We read her novels for many reasons, her subtle wit and amusing observations, her...

Among Jane Austen’s most beloved qualities are her sense of humor, subtle wit, and penchant for teasing.  We find evidence of it in her...

In the Austen canon, lesser-known characters can play pivotal roles in her stories, affecting outcomes or creating diversions; some by...

Not everyone is an extrovert in this world; self-confident, genial, at ease with new acquaintances or in new settings.  Some of us are...

What may we imply from the writings of Jane Austen regarding her feelings about slavery since, like many global events during her...