Marriage: Then and Now

I think after talking about it in class, as a group we established that marriage is no different from 1823 to 2012, all that's happened is the evolution of certain mechanics, meanings, ways to go about things.  There are still people who marry some for money, there are those who marry others for their looks, and there are people who don't get looked at all because they are not certainly appealing.  But in class we did establish what we think it essentially takes for a marriage.
1) There is the idea of money being a driving factor
2) How good looking someone is
3) How smart someone is
4) How educated
5) Where they're from, their background, their families, religious preferences
All 5 of these types of ideals are leading factors in a somewhat perfect match that we have assumed.
A question I would leave of with is behind everything "Is this the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?" Food for thought.

Free book and Blog

The book I want to read after being done with college apps is The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo because of all the good things i've heard about it and after looking at which blogs are the best I want to start following and reading Eater L.A. the blog that discusses the best food and restaurants in L.A. but as well as yelp which is basically a blog again about one of my favorite things, food.  But also the Lakers Buzz blog.

Conclusion

Marriage in the 1800s basically only came around once in a woman's life, so she had to choose the prime timing and the perfect person to spend her life with.  This sole, key idea, Mrs. Bennet is unable to grasp as all she does is try to exploit her daughter using a sacred, bonding symbol.  As well as her lack of knowledge in the real world, this all adds to being the display of Mrs. Bennet's inability to understand what life is.  On the other hand, Elizabeth, much younger, is much more fruitful, thoughtful, and independent and believes and comprehends, that life is a one time experience and marriage is the same, and that you have to take full advantages of both by committing what you want and to whom you love.  This sums to be the differentiating line from both women's true perspective, and which one is the proper one.

Paragraph 1

Marriage to Mrs. Bennet is not something that can be easily defined.  She understands what it means, a binding between a man and a woman, but she does not understand what it stands for.  Mrs. Bennet doesn't appreciate the true aspect of marriage because to her, it is just an object of money.  She materializes a sentimental moment in life, and removes any type of love or emotion linked with it.  For Mrs. Bennet, marriage is a look towards the future and stability, the ability to say that she has made it in this life by vicariously living through her daughters and becoming wealthy.  This selfish thought propels into the clouds leading her to believe that she actually means something when she truly isn't anything in this world except another member of the middle class.  Furthermore, because of her oblivious attitude this incorporates itself into her ideas of marriage causing her to be careless and lack respect for not only emotion but her daughter Elizabeth as well, who is a complete 180 from her mother.  Mrs. Bennet takes marriage on like a bull rather a "journey" meaning that she aggressively approaches only with the idea of winning and ultimately sucks out the feeling of love, her biggest example being her daughter Jane, and as a result disgracing and not fully understanding marriage.

*Forgot: Stupidity of Mrs. Bennet causes her to be left in the dark as she can not experience life, except through a one-minded thought channel.

Intro Paragraph

Marriage is a sacred bond between a couple that symbolizes their love and want, to be with one another.  In the novel "Pride and Prejudice", this idea of marriage is not considered traditional as it is rare as the morals of the time are split, and favored towards the materialistic side of life.  The greatest example of that being, Mrs. Bennet. She is essentially one-minded in what she does and in a sense emotionless when it comes to anything except getting her daughters "hitched".  Mrs. Bennet sees marriage as an investment and the groom as broker who is suppose to take on the stock which is her daughters and make it grow in price in terms meaning their financial situation in their lives.  She wants a cash cow not a husband for her daughters, as she says for future stability but really for herself for the self satisfaction of knowing that she pulled it of getting into the higher class, thus displaying how careless she really is.  Yet Elizabeth is anything but the same as her mother as she is one who does not look for the glitz and glamour but the real, raw emotions of love, the real reason to get married.  Her simplicity allows her to be grounded, down to earth, and give her the ability to not care if her husband is rich or poor. What Elizabeth wants, is the man of her dreams, yet not in the comic way as in a fairy tale, as we would think in the 1800s, but in a way which a man would truly love her and she could love him for who he is and not for what he stands or what he's made of.  She wants the sacred bond to be legitimate.  This ability to be so real with herself, allows Elizabeth to be an independent woman and think for herself. Independence allows Elizabeth to grow as a human being and understand the true values of life, and what the difference between money and love really means, unlike her mother who believes that every emotion can either be bought or be caused by money because she who has not grown, because she does not have to capability to, in her life, can not understand what a real marriage really is.

Essay: Why is marriage not the same for Elizabeth as it is for her mother (Mrs. Bennet)?

Intro:
- Marriage is a sacred bond between a couple who love each other.

- Mrs. Bennet is very careless.  

     - One Minded.

          - Emotionless

              - Lack of thought and development in what she does.
- Elizabeth very simplistic on life.
     - Doesn't take things to hard.
           - Not afraid to speak her mind.

Paragraph 1:
- Mrs. Bennet looks towards the future.
     *Stability for her daughters.
- Money is the issue (yet the men are handsome).
- Living in the clouds.
- Doesn't understand her boundaries, thinks she's is higher class, yet she is part of the poor.
- Marriage is a joke for her in a sense.
      *Doesn't respect it.
- Selfish
- Carless
- Wants her daughters to have a financial future, true love is last on her list.

Paragraph 2:
- Elizabeth is very independent
      * Shuts down Mr. Collins and Darcey.
      * Not afraid to dance with multiple at the ball, doesn't care what others think of her
- Pride
- Wants true love.  Doesn't care for the money
- Doesn't look at her class but is aware of who she is.
- Head not in the clouds.
- Respects marriage
- Money is nothing to her but material, wants the sentimental value of the heart and care.

Conclusion:
- Mrs. Bennet sees marriage as an investment and the groom as broker who is suppose to take on the stock which is her daughters and make it grow in price in terms meaning their financial situation in their lives.  She wants a cash cow not a husband for their daughters, as she says for future stability but really for herself for the self satisfaction of knowing that she pulled it of getting into the higher class.
- Elizabeth keeps life simple.  She is middle class and knows.  She doesn't care if her husband is rich or poor, she just wants the man of her dreams, yet not in the comic way as in a fairy as we would think in the 1800s but in a way which he would truly love her and she could love him for who he is and not for what he stands or what he's made of.  She wants the sacred bond to be legitimate.  Her simple values allow her to be a real woman unlike her sister who's more like glass and can break at any time because she is unable to think for her self like Liz, INDEPENDENCE.

Pride and Prejudice Essay Thoughts

Ideas:
- Rich vs. Poor ideal
     - How Elizabeth is able to turn down offers of marriage so easily without thinking of benefits.

- How Mrs. Bennet is not so clueless, but actually greedy with a plan.
     - Throws her daughters at all men with a bank account and pulse.

- Why do the men with money, power over society and not the women with money?
     - Men have women thrown at them for their money but it doesn't seem like the other way around.

- Doesn't it feel as if the upper class should be more in charge, but it is the people of the Bennets social class that puppeteer the system of love for some reason.  Ironic.  Even though rich have a say, the way Darcey imposed on Jane's relationship still...

1) How do rich control the poor in the idea of society and other aspects of it? (in progress)
2) Why is it impossible for a women to be the women who is wanted and needed, rather than the man?
3) Why is the bond of marriage not as sacred? (seemingly)...ideas of truth and realness.

D.W. Harding

3) I agree with D.W. in the sense that Austen truly does use exaggerated characters to prove her underlying hatred, even though hatred my be a strong word, for those she dislikes as well as to use it to relate with people who in a sense lived in the same sensitive, lacking of social status life style that she was.  He proves a great point with this idea signaling to the fact that her sarcasm isn't really detected and is more sensed by how snobby the characters are, exaggerating their motivations and story tellers and characters of fiction as we can not imagine that back in the 1800s, even the poor people thought that they can lie in the same bed as the rich and not wake up the next morning feeling as poor as they were the night before.

Thoughts:
I think that D.W. Harding makes some fantastic points as well as some points that you can't necessarily say are accurate but are not on the right track.  It really does make sense how D.W. puts Austen in perspective as a person of sensitive life and values who is unable to "compete" with the sharks of the contemporary life and reverts to writing to make connections with those she hates.  I think he is off in the fact that he says that Austen's sarcasm is light or delicate.  As he describes her as putting the people she hates in her book as characters so they can love, she is also understanding that they have to be made fun of and insulted for them to understand the humor and disregard the facts.  In this sense, Austen sarcasm isn't necessarily sharp but incredibly witty as the people she dislikes in the society, the upper class, are reading her book and relating to her and her characters, little do they that these snobby, sometimes stupid, and socially extravagant people are themselves in a nutshell.  Lastly I understand where Harding is coming from when he says that Austen is a critic of society and has no right to do because her sensitivity in a way doesn't allow her to explore different aspects of life, but as an author you have to write your book on what you think and see more often then what you do, essentially that's why it's called fiction.

Questions focus

Matthew and Adrian

1) Do the same rules apply when the women is one who is wealthy?  C
2) How does Elizabeth have the view to deny someone like Mr Collins unlike others.  O. X
3) How does Mrs. Bennett able to apply herself as high status, obviously not being rich?  O. X
4) Why does Mr. Bennett similar to Elizabeth not care for others opinions about him?  O
5) What makes Bingley better than other men, besides his money?  O
6) What is Whitckam's p.o.v. On marriage and higher statuses?  O
7) How do the Bennet's lifestyle compare to the real lifestyles of the non-rich? Better or worse?  O. X

We selected these three because they are the most controversial that cause more questions and answers.

iPads in the classroom

iPads are one of the most innovative inventions of all time.  A small tablet that has everything you need at the small tap of the screen, ridiculous.  Yet in the class room, this awesomeness can be both beneficial and bad.  The beneficial side of the iPad in the classroom is enormous.  It's essentially an electronic binder, so you have everything you need.  Its as mobile as a cell phone.  It only ways about 3 pounds, and because you put all your books there, because they are ebooks, you save about 50-70 pounds worth of wait depending on which classes you take.  The iPad is a marvel to have in class, because it just spreads out the knowledge to a whole new, technological level, and honestly, I think it enhances and livens the learning experience.  Yet there are some things that are bad.  Having such great machinery at ones fingertips, the temptation to wander is a lot greater now.  Since it is essentially your classroom book and notetaker, one can only assume someone does these things, but there are distraction such as games, the internet, music, conversing and much more.  Even though this may slow down the class, it essentially slows the class down the same amount of time as if a pair of students were to be talking in class.  Very minimal compared to the positive results.  Overall iPad in the classroom is a terrific, and innovative idea.

Mr. Collins Proposal

I like to imagine Elizabeth as a very witty character.  Even though she already portrays herself to be one, I would imagine that the use of hand gestures and certain ways of talking, in a way we discussed in class, a condescending tone, would be used to prove her points.  Collins I would imagine him the way Soren was in the movie, short, jittery, all over the place, full of energy and emotion.  I feel like the scene would go down, probably in his house, or at least somewhere private, because we take into account that Elizabeth is his second choice and even though he doesn't think about getting rejected he does put the possibility that she has to think about it.  As Collins proposes, I would assume that Elizabeth would seem very bored, as she has clearly displayed disinterest before, while Collins would be so happy as he is blinded by his own self wants and satisfaction that he forgets to think about WAIT, DOES SHE EVEN WANT TO BE WITH ME.  And that irony would set up the humor for the scene.