Socratic Discussion

I really enjoyed the student-led discussions because of the continuous interaction between students. It was interesting to see how students were able to become leaders, rather than solely listening to the teacher. Rather than the teacher leading the class, the students had to create their own questions, and often think of answers on the spot, which I found extremely interesting. Furthermore, the concept of marriage and contrasting how people found who they loved in the past and the present was also exciting. I particularly enjoyed talking about marriage for economic status, and the controversial situation of what to do if your spouse has severe physical or health problems.

P&P: Conclusion

Overall, Austen throughout Pride and Prejudice effectively demonstrates the separation of power between two wealthy and upper-class men, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins, and an inferior, yet clever woman, Elizabeth. Mr. Collins naively believes that Elizabeth would instantly accept his marriage proposal based on his superiority. Furthermore, Collins solely focuses on material gains for Elizabeth, rather than expressing love and emotion, which Elizabeth ultimately desires. On the other hand, Darcy is originally embarrassed for liking a woman of a lesser status such as Elizabeth; he believed that society would condescend him for marrying a woman that did not fulfill his idealized expectations. 

P&P: Second Body Paragraph

While Darcy attempts to resist his love for Elizabeth because of his superior social class, Mr. Collins oppositely desires to take advantage of his social power by essentially forcing Elizabeth to marry him. Collins understandingly knew that he was going to inherit the Bennet's household once Mr. Bennet passes away; thus, Collins feels that marriage between him and Elizabeth would "add very greatly to [his] happiness" (Austen 76). Even though Collins and Elizabeth feel no love for each other, Collins perceives that Elizabeth would be foolish to deny his proposal, as she will not only marry to a 'higher class', but this proposal evidently could be the only one that Elizabeth ever receives. During the proposal scene, Collins fails to express his love and emotion for her. Rather, he is oblivious to the situation and can only list reasons as to why the marriage would be beneficial to him. Elizabeth, while in the most polite manner, frequently rejects his proposal because she values love and happiness over materialism and class. Elizabeth understood that this could be her last hope for marriage; however, she was willing to take the chance of having no social power in her quest for love. Austen evidently illustrates the dependency women have on men in the proposal scene as it is “for Elizabeth, a taste of the fantastic nightmare in which economic and social institutions have such powers over the values of personal relationships” (Harding 298). Elizabeth is an intelligent woman and understands her inferiority to men, but she desires marital love and happiness more than inheriting Collins’ social power. 

P&P Essay: First Body Paragraph

Austen emphatically illustrates Mr. Darcy's superior nature to reveal the distinct imbalance of power between the two genders. Because Darcy is not only a tall, handsome man, but also extremely wealthy and the owner of Pemberley, he is exceedingly hubristic, and only interacts with people who can live up to his extreme standards. When Darcy is first introduced to Elizabeth, for example, Darcy believes that she is "not handsome enough to tempt [him]" (Austen 9). While it is certainly true that Elizabeth is not as prestigious and proud as Darcy, Darcy idealizes himself and his world, and Elizabeth can initially not fulfill Darcy's naive view of society. Darcy's excessive pride also leads Mrs. Bennet, who would usually praise a man of Darcy's social power, to believe that he "is a most disagreeable, horrid man" (Austen 10). However, after being forced to interact with Elizabeth, Darcy is instantly exposed to her intelligence and wit; moreover, they begin to playfully criticize each other's flaws. Yet Darcy still feels ashamed and embarrassed of himself for feeling emotions for a woman who does not fit in his idealized world. Darcy effectively places social power before his own happiness and love; he does not initially want to decline his social status by marrying a woman of a "lesser" status. His excessive pride completely overshadows his intuition and feelings for Elizabeth. Austen effectively employs irony in Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship to reveal the evident divide in social power; it is not until Darcy can overcome his pride and prejudice that he can finally express his true love for Elizabeth. Even though Elizabeth's wit and intelligence are equal to that of Darcy's, his overriding pride almost completely hindered his realization of love.

P&P Essay: Intro Paragraph

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen effectively employs wealthy, idealized characters to reveal the separation between men and women in the 1800's. In the early 19th century, as Austen herself had experienced, women were extremely limited and powerless because of their social power. Austen throughout her novel criticizes the clear inequality between men and women through satire and irony. It was evident that women needed to rely on men for their social power, as they were instantly looked at as the inferior gender. Austen experienced this separation of classes after rejecting her only proposal and was thus rejected by society and forced to sleep on friends’ couches. By employing characters in her novel such as Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy, Austen conveys the condescending attitude that men treated women with in the early 19th century. Both men understand their gender and social class advantage over Elizabeth, a pretty, but less wealthy woman. However, while Collins attempts to exploit his social power to his advantage, Darcy feels ashamed of liking a woman of a lesser class. While Darcy and Collins utilize their superior social class in different ways, they clearly exemplify the divide in power between men and women.

P&P Essay Outline

Intro Paragraph - Describe the social power (gender and class) that is prevalent in the 1800's. Men have considerable social power because not only of their gender, but in Darcy and Mr. Collins's case, their class and economic standing. Give background information about Jane Austen; a little about her history and what she personally experienced and how she incorporated Darcy and Mr. Collins to reveal the separation between men and women.

First Body Paragraph: Marriage - Darcy refuses to even dance with a girl who does not live up to his high standards of a perfect girl; Darcy idealizes himself and feels that initially he can only accept someone who lives up to his idealization. Even when Darcy begins to have feelings for Elizabeth, he feels ashamed of himself for liking her, as she is not nearly as wealthy as him. Darcy judges people not by who they are, but rather by what they have. Mr. Collins similarly believes that Elizabeth will accept his proposal just based on the fact that he will be able to provide her a wealthier life than what she has. Collins ignores the realization that there is no love between them; rather, Collins argues that they should marry simply because it would make him happy and he will inherit the Bennet's house once Mr. Bennet dies.

Second Body Paragraph: Womens' social power rests entirely on their husband/family: Women in the 1800's, such as Jane Austen herself, had little to no social power simply based on their gender; however, if women were to have strong economic support, then they still could gain some power. In Mrs. Bennet's situation, her sole desire was to marry off her daughters into rich, secure families.

Conclusion: wrap up the idea of social power, womens' reliance on men, and Darcy and Mr. Collins higher social class over Elizabeth.

Questions and Main Ideas for Essay

Essay Question: Why is social power important? How do Mr. Collins and Darcy exemplify the divide in social power between men and women in the 1800's?

Characters: Darcy, Mr. Collins, Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Bingley

Main Ideas: Social power is important because:

• Women's social status basically rests on the wealth of their family/husband
• In Elizabeth's case, by not marrying Mr. Collins, she was risking her future social status and in essence her social power
• Darcy idealizes his social power because of his wealth, class, and gender.
• Mr. Collins strongly believes that Elizabeth will accept his proposal simply because of his higher social status
• Mrs. Bennet idealizes Jane marrying Mr. Bingley, and Elizabeth marrying Mr. Collins, mainly because of the mens' higher social power -> love was not even the deciding factor.

DW Harding Questions

1. Jane Austen’s scope is extremely restricted, but within her limits she succeeded admirably in expressing the gentler virtues of a civilized social order. (Harding and Linklater)- AGREE

2. Austen as satirist is misleading; she has none of the underlying didactic intention ordinarily attributed to the satirist. Her object is not missionary; it is the more desperate one of merely finding some mode of existence for her critical attitudes. - DISAGREE

3. Austen’s method is to offer her readers every excuse for regarding as rather exaggerated figures of fun people whom she herself detests and fears. - AGREE

4. Readers enjoy the funny side of Mrs. Bennet but miss that Austen actually detests her. -AGREE

5. Austen’s light satire masks a rather bitter diatribe against 1800 social customs, but masked in exaggerated caricatures that disguise the bitterness. - AGREE

One point that Harding makes that I think is interesting:

Austen effectively exaggerates the character's faults to provide a comic relief to the reader, when in reality Austen is satirizing each character.

Question Formulation Technique - Ashton Madeline + Eli

QUESTIONS

1. Does social power still exist? C X
2. What is socal power? O
3. What are different classes? O
4. Why is social power important? O 
5. How does marrying out of your class affect you?  O
6. How does rejecting a proposal affect you? O
7. Which characters go against the norm? O
8. Which characters help define this norm in society? O X
9. Why does Darcy not want to marry Elizabeth? O
10. How does Mr. Collin's proposal help illuminate social power? O
11. Why does Mrs. Bennet think Elizabeth should marry Mr. Collins? O
12. How does social power demonstrate the Mrs. + Mr. Bennet's difference in values? O 
13. Should social power [gender and class] be an issue? C X

X -- we selected these three questions because we felt they were all relevant to society then and today. 

We will use our questions to think deeper into the novel and hopefully that will help us get a better understanding of it.

ADVANTAGE - Close-ended:

• Easy to answer
• Straight to the point 

DISADVANTAGE - Close-ended:

• No follow up 
• Cannot elaborate on your answer 

ADVANTAGE - Open-ended:

• Explain answer 
• Defend answer 
• There's not always one right answer 

DISADVANTAGE - Close-ended:

• Can be over extended 
• More likely to say something wrong 

We learned that there are different types of questions that allow you to express different answers. It is valuable because it helps you think about the novel in a different way. It also can help during exams.

Working with iPads

In my opinion, working with iPads outside of just using it as a textbook was really fun and informative. I better understood the play when I was able to become the character, and I could really feel the satire that Austen was trying to convey in the proposal scene. To sum up, videotaping with the iPads was not only fun and exciting, but also informative.

Proposal Scene Between Collins and Elizabeth

In Chapter 19, Jane Austen portrays the comic and overextended proposal by Mr. Collins to Elizabeth. Mr. Collins, being the way he is, believes that Elizabeth will not even hesitate to accept his proposal; however, Elizabeth has never had any romantic affection for Collins since they first met. Collins proposal from the start is completely ridiculous. Already, Collins feels objected to state his reasons for marrying Elizabeth, when a true proposal should be one of love and admiration. Furthermore, Collins continues to talk about why the marriage would be good for him, rather than it being positive for them both. Collins states that the marriage "will add very greatly to my happiness" (76). And yet while Elizabeth attempts to make as subtle and polite denial to Collins, he keeps aggravating Elizabeth to accept the proposal. Moreover, Collins continues to inform Elizabeth about how Catherine de bourgh will approve of her, but it already seems like Elizabeth will only be the second most important woman to Collins. In the final part of the scene, Mr. Collins argues that Elizabeth has only rejected him because it is natural of her not to express her true love; Collins refuses to believe that he has been disapproved by Elizabeth. Finally, Elizabeth was forced to withdraw herself from the room to escape Collins.