A letter to Ms. Austen

Dear Ms. Austen,

Having read your masterpiece Pride and Prejudice yet again, for the seventh time yesterday, allow me to commend you, albeit more than a century late, on a book so relevant as this. No wonder it has inspired so many adaptations right from Bridget Jones' Diary to Lost in Austen. I'd like to add here how I'd pay billions to see/hear your reaction to Darcy in a wet white shirt amongst so many other things. Ahem.

Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, Ms. Austen, I notice something new. This time, for instance, I noticed your analysis on the various types of love and marriages in society. While Lizzie marries only for love, Lydia marries for her frivolous idea of love. Charlotte on the other hand, is the other extreme who marries for financial and life security, not caring for romance or love. How true.

Your observations on society is a stroke of genius, Ms. Austen, as is the fact that all your characters are flawed, making them so very real to us. Some scenes in the book are so very poignant that they stand attached to my memory, close to my heart. For instance, Lizzie's visit to Pemberley, Mr. Darcy' s letter to Lizzie after she rejects his proposal, Caroline Bingley trying ever so desperately( sample her reading a book just because it is the second volume of the book Darcy is reading) to capture Darcy's attention, Darcy and Col. Fitwilliam's conversation with Lizzie at Rosing's Park and so many more.

A classic is a book that stays with the reader long after they've done reading it and that is exactly what Pride and Prejudice does to me, Ms. Austen. Your annoying characters like Mrs. Bennet and Lydia haunt me so much because, scarily enough, I've met several people like them both.

Saving the best for the last, oh, Ms. Austen, is Mr. Darcy just a figment of your imagination? What a wonderful creation is he! Doing things he would usually despise thoroughly, just to please his beloved, though she had been quite indifferent to him! He does set a ridiculously high standard for men, doesn't he?

Is that probably the reason many women say Jane Austen Ruined My Life? Why is it though that many call Darcy the perfect man? I'm sure you would agree with me that the whole charm of Mr. Darcy, excluding his marvellous Pemberley, is the fact that he is flawed, but works so hard to try and get over some of those faults for the sake of his love.

I don't think you shall understand the following, but let me still go with it. The Jane Austen Book Club film has a memorable scene where the traffic lights flash " What would Jane do?". How true. I think about that constantly. But I wonder about this more " What would we do without Jane and her books?"

Your obsessed fan,
Kals.


Just thought I'd review Pride and Prejudice a little differently :P This makes it 3/12 in my extended Austen challenge.