Rachel Dodge's Blog, page 22

Hello, fellow Kindred Spirit book lovers! I’m launching a summer book club and blog series starting June 4th, and I want you to be part of it! If you love reading, wish you read more, or want to be inspired to read great books this summer, then this series is for you.

This summer book series is designed to help you select good books that you either already have (perhaps stacked up next to your bed!) or that are on your wish list . . . and inspire you to actually read some of them. I’ll post book recommendations (and ask you to share yours), offer giveaways as an incentive to help you stick to your reading goals, and host monthly book discussions.

Your Book List: Start dreaming now about what you want to read this summer. To inspire you, I’m going to blog for 12 weeks about my favorite books/genres, what good books teach us, and how reading can refresh our minds, bodies, and spirits. You can read your own books, read my book recommendations, or mix it up with a little of both. (More next week about curating a book list that fits your personality and tips on what to read/what not to read.)

You Set the Pace: This is all about you and your journey with reading, so don’t overdo it. Choose as many or as few books as you like. If I can inspire you to read even one great book this summer, I’ll be as happy as a clam!

Weekly Inspiration: Each week, I’m going to blog about a featured book, a theme for the week, and an inspiration to read good books. I’ll also give you a fun activity or thought exercise to go along with the theme for the week.

Monthly Read-Along Books:

These are the books we’ll read together each month (totally optional). We’ll chat online at the end of each month about these beautiful books.

June: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

July: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (stay tuned for movie party in August!)

August: Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter

Online Book Club on Facebook: What’s almost as good as reading? Talking about books with other kindred spirit readers! We’ll have online book chats and parties on our Kindred Spirit Book Club Facebook Group throughout the summer. There, we’ll drink tea, share what we’ve been reading, and gush about all our favorite books. (If you’re not the type to hang out on Facebook, consider inviting a few friends over for a book exchange or tea party of your own this summer!)

Let’s Read Good Books

Each week, I’ll send you book ideas, reading inspiration, and fun incentives to keep you reading all summer long. Here’s how you can join in the fun:

Sign Up: The starting point for this series is my weekly blog. It’s easy to miss each other on social media these days, so click here to subscribe!
Bonus: If you subscribe to my mailing list by June 15th, 2018, you’ll have the chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card toward one of the books on your wish list!
Leave Comments: Please leave comments on my blog and share your favorite books titles. We want to hear from you!
Social Media: You can also follow me on Instagram @kindredspiritbooks and on Facebook.com/groups/kindredspiritbookclub. Share your bookish photos all summer long. Tag them #kindredspiritbookclub, so we can find each other.
Tell a Friend: Please help me spread the word by sharing this with your friends, colleagues, and family members. The more, the merrier. Thank you!

My Question to You: What makes it hard for you to find the time to read? Comment below with your thoughts, so I know what to focus on in the coming months. I’d love to hear from you!

Come read with me, explore great books & be inspired this summer!

The post Kindred Spirit Book Club: Summer Reading Series appeared first on Rachel Dodge.

Jane Austen never had children of her own, and she never wrote a conduct manual for mothers, but her novels certainly speak volumes about her opinion on the state of motherhood in 18th-century England—and specifically that of the landed gentry.

In her novels, the majority of Austen’s mothers can be broken down into three general categories: The Spectator, the Matchmaker, and the Manager.

The Indulgent Spectator

“Lady Bertram never thought of being useful to anybody.” –Mansfield Park

In this category, Austen presents us with lenient and uninvolved mothers like Lady Middleton, Lady Bertram, and Mrs. Price.

Lady Middleton

In Sense and Sensiblity, Lady Middleton is a mother described as having the “advantage of being able to spoil her children all the year round” (32). She insists on bringing her “troublesome boys” (55) with her to most of her social engagements, and their actions speak volumes: “Lady Middleton seemed to be roused to enjoyment only by the entrance of her four noisy children after dinner, who pulled her about, tore her clothes, and put an end to every kind of discourse except what related to themselves” (34).

Lady Bertram

In Mansfield Park, Austen says Lady Bertram is a mother who “might always be considered as only half-awake” (343). She is most often described as “indolent” (four times) and most often found sitting on the sofa (eight times). Lady Bertram spends “her days in sitting, nicely dressed, on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty, thinking more of her pug than her children, but very indulgent to the latter when it did not put herself to inconvenience” (19-20). As to the “education of her daughters,” she pays “not the smallest attention.” She is of little “service to her girls” in this regard, considering it “unnecessary” because they are “under the care of a governess, with proper masters, and could want nothing more” (20).

Mrs. Price

Lady Betram’s sister, Mrs. Price, is described similarly: “Her disposition was naturally easy and indolent, like Lady Bertram’s” (390). Upon visiting home, Fanny’s “disappointment in her mother was [great]; there she had hoped much, and found almost nothing” (389). In describing her home management, Austen says Mrs. Price’s days are “spent in a kind of slow bustle; all was busy without getting on, always behindhand and lamenting it, without altering her ways; wishing to be an economist, without contrivance or regularity; dissatisfied with her servants, without skill to make them better” (389). Mrs. Price, the mother of nine children, is termed “a partial, ill-judging parent, a dawdle, a slattern, who neither taught nor restrained her children, whose house was the scene of mismanagement and discomfort from beginning to end . . .” (390). With such an aunt and such a mother, it’s a wonder Fanny turns out so well.

The Meddling Matchmaker

“[T]he pains which they, their mothers (very clever women), as well as my dear aunt and myself, have taken to reason, coax, or trick [Henry] into marrying, is inconceivable!” –Mansfield Park

In this category, we find mothers like Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Jennings who live to make matches. Both women make the business of matchmaking the main focus of their lives.

Mrs. Bennet

For Mrs. Bennet, marrying off her daughters is the “business of her life” (5). With five daughters and an entailed estate, Mrs. Bennet is always on the look-out: “A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” (3-4). Mrs. Bennet even comes up with elaborate schemes to achieve her goal, such as the day when Jane is invited to Netherfield. Mrs. Bennet sends her off on horseback, in the hopes that it might rain and she might be asked to stay the night. It all goes according to plan: “This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!” (31). Only when Jane and Elizabeth marry well does Mrs. Bennet finally experience the joyful relief of sweet success: “Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters” (385).

Mrs. Jennings

In Sense and Sensibility, Austen gives us this description of Mrs. Jennings: “She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world” (36). In the role of matchmaking busybody, Mrs. Jennings is “zealously active.” Upon offering to take Elinor and Marianne to London, she says, “I have had such good luck in getting my own children off my hands that [your mother] will think me a very fit person to have the charge of you” (153). She takes her role as surrogate mother seriously while in London: “if I don’t get one of you at least well married before I have done with you, it shall not be my fault. I shall speak a good word for you to all the young men, you may depend upon it” (153-4).

The Business Manager

“She took the first opportunity of affronting her mother–in–law on the occasion, talking to her so expressively of her brother’s great expectations, of Mrs. Ferrars’s resolution that both her sons should marry well, and of the danger attending any young woman who attempted to draw him in.” –Sense and Sensibility

The mothers in this category, such as Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mrs. Ferrars, possess money and power, and they use both to rule over their offspring. Lacking in motherly affection or compassion, their matchmaking is purely strategic.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Lady Catherine is “a tall, large woman, with strongly-marked features” (162), the only living parent of Miss de Bourgh, the heir to the de Bourgh estate. As Mr. Darcy’s aunt, and “almost the nearest relation he has in the world,” she believes she is “entitled to know all his dearest concerns” (354). With both Pemberley and Rosings at stake, she takes her role quite seriously. She believes it’s her duty to “unite the two estates” by ensuring the marriage of her daughter to Mr. Darcy (83). For this reason, upon hearing news of Mr. Darcy’s probable engagement to Elizabeth Bennet, Lady Catherine “instantly resolve[s] on setting off” to confront Elizabeth at Longbourn, that she “might make [her] sentiments known” and pressure Elizabeth into giving up Mr. Darcy (353).

Mrs. Ferrars

Similarly, Mrs. Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility is a “very headstrong proud woman” (148) who uses money to try to control her sons. In order to pressure Edward to marry well, she “told him she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax, brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate, to make it twelve hundred” (266). When he won’t comply, she threatens his ruin: “his own two thousand pounds she protested should be his all; she would never see him again; and so far would she be from affording him the smallest assistance, that if he were to enter into any profession with a view of better support, she would do all in her power to prevent him advancing in it” (267). Edward is “dismissed for ever from his mother’s notice” when he honors his engagement to Lucy. Mrs. Ferrars settles the estate, “which might have been Edward’s,” upon his brother Robert (268).

The Fond, Caring Mother

With only these examples of motherhood, one might think Austen had nothing good to say on the topic of mothers. Thankfully, Austen’s novels do provide us with redemptive motherly moments as well.

In Emma, Austen tells us that Miss Taylor “had fallen little short of a mother in affection” in her care of young Emma (5). In Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Dashwood possesses “tender love for all her three children” (6). In Northanger Abbey, when Mrs. Morland worries that Catherine’s low spirits and inactivity stem from Catherine’s worldly experiences, she cautions her on that subject, saying, “there is a time for everything—a time for balls and plays, and a time for work. You have had a long run of amusement, and now you must try to be useful” (240). And Mrs. Gardiner is described in Pride and Prejudice as “an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman, and a great favourite with all her Longbourn nieces” (139). She gives mother-like advice to Elizabeth, “a wonderful instance of advice being given on such a point, without being resented” (145).

Mrs. Musgrove

In Persuasion, Austen presents a handsome picture of motherhood in Mrs. Musgrove. She loves her own children, worries that her grandchildren are being spoiled, and cares for the Harville children while Mrs. Harville nurses Louisa. At Christmas, the Musgroves bring the Harville children home with them and “receive their happy boys and girls from school” (129). Austen describes Mrs. Musgrove’s home at Christmas as “a fine family-piece.” There, Mrs. Musgrove is surrounded by “the little Harvilles,” a group of “chattering girls” at a table “cutting up silk and gold paper,” and “riotous boys” holding “high revel” near “tressels and trays, bending under the weight of brawn and cold pies” (134).

Jane Bennet

Finally, Austen’s description of Jane Bennet’s natural motherly instincts gives us a glimpse into the future: “The children, two girls of six and eight years old, and two younger boys, were to be left under the particular care of their cousin Jane, who was the general favourite, and whose steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way—teaching them, playing with them, and loving them” (239).

On a day when we celebrate mothers everywhere, let us thank all of the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and mentors who have guided and loved us through the various seasons of our lives.

You can follow more of my literary ramblings here on this site, over at Jane Austen’s World where I am a regular contributor, or on Instagram.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane, and R. W. Chapman. The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen. Oxford UP, 1988.

 

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This is an 1815 print of “a young woman in an autumnal walking dress taken from La Belle Assemblee…” (123). It appears in an annotated edition of Persuasion that I have on loan from one of my students.

This dress is described as a “jaconet muslin high dress… with a long sleeve, prettily and tastefully ornamented at top with letting-in lace, in such a manner as to form a very novel half sleeve. The bottom of the dress is finished by a triple flounce of worked muslin or lace.”

Wouldn’t you like to go back in time for an afternoon walk? I know I would, especially if I could wear something like this.

This dress is significant because it is similar to that which the Musgrove and Elliot sisters would have worn “on their November 1814 walk from Uppercross to Winthrop” (123).

It was a very fine November day, and the Miss Musgroves came through the little grounds, and stopped for no other purpose than to say, that they were going to take a long walk . . .

—Persuasion, Jane Austen

In this scene, we see the interplay of family relationships. The sisters do not want Mary along, which means Mary will go: “Mary immediately replied, with some jealousy at not being supposed a good walker, ‘Oh, yes, I should like to join you very much, I am very fond of a long walk. . .'”

They invite Anne, who they prefer, and then the men join them as well (as luck would have it): “Just as they were setting off, the gentlemen returned. They had taken out a young dog, who had spoilt their sport, and sent them back early. Their time and strength, and spirits, were, therefore, exactly ready for this walk, and they entered into it with pleasure.”

Austen uses this walk to accomplish several things: More of Mary’s character is revealed (along with her snobbery and family pride). Furthermore, Anne overhears Wentworth and Louisa Musgrove talking, and we learn vital information about his opinion of Anne. He believes a woman should be firm. Louisa gives him her explanation of why Anne declined to marry Charles:

We should all have liked her a great deal better; and papa and mamma always think it was her great friend Lady Russell’s doing, that she did not. They think Charles might not be learned and bookish enough to please Lady Russell, and that therefore, she persuaded Anne to refuse him.

–Louisa Musgrove, Persuasion

For Anne, this is pure torture. Anne did refuse Wentworth based on the pressure put on her by her family and by Lady Russell. However, she did not refuse Charles for the same reason; she refused Charles because she still loved Wentworth. Louisa’s words have only served to further cement Wentworth’s negative opinion of Anne:

The listener’s proverbial fate was not absolutely hers; she had heard no evil of herself, but she had heard a great deal of very painful import. She saw how her own character was considered by Captain Wentworth, and there had been just that degree of feeling and curiosity about her in his manner which must give her extreme agitation.

—Persuasion, Jane Austen

Austen also uses this outing to right the relationship between Charles Hayter and Henrietta, which is important because it resolves the Henrietta-Wentworth-Louisa problem:

. . . that there had been a withdrawing on the gentleman’s side, and a relenting on the lady’s, and that they were now very glad to be together again, did not admit a doubt. Henrietta looked a little ashamed, but very well pleased;–Charles Hayter exceedingly happy: and they were devoted to each other almost from the first instant of their all setting forward for Uppercross.

—Persuasion, Jane Austen

Austen tells us what this means to Anne. As her heart sinks, so do ours:

Everything now marked out Louisa for Captain Wentworth; nothing could be plainer; and where many divisions were necessary, or even where they were not, they walked side by side nearly as much as the other two.

—Persuasion, Jane Austen

A walk is never just a walk in Austen’s novels.

She uses this one, in the middle of autumn, to bring about an important shift in several relationships. When Wentworth helps her into the gig with Admiral and Mrs. Croft at the end of this chapter, Anne comes to an important realization:

She understood him. He could not forgive her, but he could not be unfeeling. Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to another, still he could not see her suffer, without the desire of giving her relief.

–Anne Elliot, Persuasion

In the next portion of the novel, another outing shifts the entire tenor of the novel: The visit to Lyme. At the outset, the Musgrove girls are happy and carefree. Wentworth is enjoying his life as an eligible bachelor. But Louisa’s injury changes everything. Nothing is ever the same after that fateful day at the Cobb.

To read more of my articles about Jane Austen and the Regency era, click here. To follow my Bookstagram feed on Instagram, click here.

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