Persuasion by Jane Austen

“How quick come the reasons for approving what we like.”  - Jane Austen,

Persuasion by Jane Austen is the story of Anne Elliot; a witty, independent and intelligent woman of the upper class in the 19^th Century. Eight years before the start of the novel, Anne was still a young woman when she fell in love with Officer Frederick Wentworth. However, she was persuaded against this love. Now, in the present she is already 27 and much wiser. She meets again with now, Captain Frederick. This is not only their love story but also the satire of society’s vanity and social class.

At the start I found the book quite hard, I thought that I would actually be writing this review differently and saying that I didn't think this was a book for my level and age, mid-teens. The words were quite hard, like any other classic and the names sometimes got me confused, especially the two Charles and it didn't help they were cousins. However, once the story started taking shape the whole thing became easier to read and follow. 

I quite enjoyed this book, but I do have one comment that to me seems to correlate with Jane Austen’s literary work; I find that Austen writes books that if they were written nowadays they would have been considered ‘teen fiction’ with a bit of romance. It may be because I am used to the thrill of fantasy novels but I found that Persuasion didn’t have a very strong plot. As I said, I enjoyed reading the novel however, as I go over the story I don’t know how the story took over so many pages. It was basically the day to day life of Anne Elliot and her seeing Captain Wentworth again. There were little complications, like there would be in real life but nothing major. I read in the trusty J sparknotes that the climax was when Wentworth gave Anne the letter announcing that he still loved her.  However, this scene was one of the last in the books, were all the other 150 or 200 pages just the introduction and a very small build-up?

Now, to the actual themes. Jane Austen explored a time when there was the rise of the industry in England and there was a increase of middle class workman turning wealthy. She poked fun of the strict social class and the vanity of the traditional older generation of wealthy, especially through Sir Elliot. However, through Anne we saw that Austen still respected the social hierarchy and the need for it. Anne wanted an equal not only in mind but in class to marry. Although social class division still goes on today especially in third world countries, this theme is not one that can be as clearly connected to our world now.

I think that the main theme was the social class structure that was mentioned in every scene. So maybe the novel should have been called something like, “Nouveau Riche”? Since it was that she was exploring. I don’t think the name Persuasion really does the themes and book justice. Anne was persuaded to give up her love of Frederick when she was younger and at the end she believes she did the right thing. After Anne being so easily persuaded, Frederick talked of needing a strong companion, someone who would stand her ground and not be so influenced by others. Persuasion was an important part of the conflicts that arose however I don’t believe it was central to the ideas of the story.

Persuasion is a classic and it is good in understanding the behaviours and attitudes of the upper class in the changing times of the early 19^th Century. I found it a pleasant book but and one of the better novels of Jane Austen however that is about it for my praise. This book is more of a class study text other than one I would choose for my own amusement.