Box Hill Book Discussion - Longbourn

At this year's annual Box Hill meeting members of CNJ JASNA spent some time catching up before beginning out discussion of Jo Baker's Longbourn. Set during (and a little after) the events of Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn is set at the Bennett house and focuses on the lives of the staff.


One of the topics discussed was criticism on the number of staff Baker shows the Bennett household having. In this novel there is the butler and housekeeper (Mr. and Mrs. Hill), two maids (Sarah and Polly) and a footman (James). It was discussed whether this was too low a number for the household. We seemed to be split on this idea that the Bennetts didn't have the money to hire more help because Mr. Bennett didn't earn enough or if their lack of savings played a part in the size of the household staff.

We also discussed Baker's use of the war in the novel, something Jane barely hinted at in her novels. This novel gives us a better understanding of the political landscape of the time. England was at war with France (well Napoleon was at war with everyone) and this resulted in James fighting in Spain. The Napoleonic Wars spanned the time period between 1803 and 1815. Between 1801 and 1814 English troops helped Spanish troops in Spain, this is when James was involved in the war.  These events were ongoing while Jane was editing P&P. Given a penchant for research one could look at P&P and attempt to glen an insight to troop movements in relationship to English troop movements in relation to the war (I think that sentence makes sense).

We enjoyed the little glimpses we got into P&P while not being a retelling of the novel. Comments about the mud on the bottoms of petticoats, to needing to go fetch the shoe-roses, and the flogging of a private all became major aspects of Longbourn.

We also discussed:
* the similarities between the two stories. Elizabeth is torn between Darcy and Wickham and Sarah is torn between James and Ptolmey
* how Wickham is even more horrible in this novel
* the mixed feelings on Mr. Bennett's characterization
* the inclusion of Ptolmey and how he was similar and yet different from James


Please feel free to share you're thoughts on the novel!

Pride and Prejudice Discussion

Yesterday we had our February meeting and we had a wonderful discussion about Pride and Prejudice.

I put together a list of 15 questions that I pulled from various sources (list at the bottom of this post).

Here are some of the ones we discussed:

• How are Elizabeth’s wit and intelligence and independence first made clear in the novel? In what ways, during the course of the novel, is she the victim of her own intellect and independence? Are these features eventually responsible for her happy ending?
• In 1814 Mary Russell Mitford wrote: "It is impossible not to feel in every line of Pride and Prejudice. . . the entire want of taste which could produce so pert, so worldly a heroine as the beloved of such a man as Darcy. . . Darcy should have married Jane." Would you have liked the book as well if Jane were its heroine?
• Austen suggests that in order to marry well a woman must be pretty, respectable, and have money. In the world of Pride and Prejudice, which of these is most important? Spare a thought for some of the unmarried women in the book-Mary and Kitty Bennet, Miss de Bourgh, Miss Georgiana Darcy, poor, disappointed Caroline Bingley. Which of them do you picture marrying some day? Which of them do you picture marrying well?
• In what ways is Elizabeth out of place in her own family? How do they limit what she can do with her “lively mind”? What do Darcy and Pemberly represent to Elizabeth? To what extent do you think family makes a person who he or she is? How does family influence the way others think of that person?
• Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh are famously comic characters. What makes them so funny? How does Elizabeth’s perception of them affect your trust in Elizabeth’s views of other people in the book, particularly of Wickham and Darcy?

Discussion Question Sources:

• Pride and Prejudice Discussion Questions - Chicago Public Library
• Pride and Prejudice Questions - Shmoop.com
• Pride and Prejudice: Questions and Topics for Discussion - Penguin Books
• The Jane Austen Book and Film Club - PBS
• Pride and Prejudice Discussion Questions - Reading Group Guides