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Situational Irony
Chapter 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Overall, Austen’s writing style is focused on capturing the subtle social dynamics between people rather than describing the scenery or digging into historical context. She does this mostly via direct dialogue between the characters (full of subtle flirting and distancing maneuvers) as well as expository passages where she describes how characters feel about each other, and how they wonder about other characters' feelings about them.
One of Austen’s common stylistic choices is the use of dashes to capture anxious and hurried thoughts, such as in Chapter 34 when Henry is worried that Fanny (his love interest) is subtly criticizing him via shaking her head when he was speaking:
“What did that shake of the head mean?” said he. “What was it meant to express? Disapprobation, I fear. But of what?—What had I been saying to displease you?—Did you think me speaking improperly?—lightly, irreverently on the subject?—Only tell me if I was. Only tell me if I was wrong. I want to be set right.”
This moment highlights the anxiety that Henry feels about how Fanny feels about him—anxiety justified by the fact that he’s waiting to hear if she will marry him or not.
Mansfield Park has a third-person omniscient narrator. The narrator stays close to Fanny (sharing her inner thoughts and feelings that, as a shy person, she rarely shares with others), but also give peeks into other characters’ minds as well. Austen also turns the narrator into their own character by having them share thoughts and opinions of their own, such as at the start of Chapter 48:
Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore every body, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest.
Here, the narrator becomes a person with their own interests and sensibilities, such as avoiding painful or uncomfortable topics.
Related Themes:
Chapter 48
Explanation and Analysis:
Overall, Austen’s writing style is focused on capturing the subtle social dynamics between people rather than describing the scenery or digging into historical context. She does this mostly via direct dialogue between the characters (full of subtle flirting and distancing maneuvers) as well as expository passages where she describes how characters feel about each other, and how they wonder about other characters' feelings about them.
One of Austen’s common stylistic choices is the use of dashes to capture anxious and hurried thoughts, such as in Chapter 34 when Henry is worried that Fanny (his love interest) is subtly criticizing him via shaking her head when he was speaking:
“What did that shake of the head mean?” said he. “What was it meant to express? Disapprobation, I fear. But of what?—What had I been saying to displease you?—Did you think me speaking improperly?—lightly, irreverently on the subject?—Only tell me if I was. Only tell me if I was wrong. I want to be set right.”
This moment highlights the anxiety that Henry feels about how Fanny feels about him—anxiety justified by the fact that he’s waiting to hear if she will marry him or not.
Mansfield Park has a third-person omniscient narrator. The narrator stays close to Fanny (sharing her inner thoughts and feelings that, as a shy person, she rarely shares with others), but also give peeks into other characters’ minds as well. Austen also turns the narrator into their own character by having them share thoughts and opinions of their own, such as at the start of Chapter 48:
Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore every body, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest.
Here, the narrator becomes a person with their own interests and sensibilities, such as avoiding painful or uncomfortable topics.
Related Themes:
