Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Letters_to_Alice

Connections enrich understanding in the pairs of texts set for study. To what extent is this made evident in the texts you have studied' Fay Weldon’s “Letters to Alice” acts on some levels as a non fictional ‘reading guide’ to the Literature and context of Jane Austen, in particular her novel, “Pride and Prejudice.” Being a text that has stood the test of time for millions of readers across two centuries, “Pride and Prejudice” is quintessentially about universal values and ideas, presented in a stylized context. Read alone, “Pride and Prejudice” may seem to be a fairly shallow romance story- however in exploring the connections Austen’s novel has sustained into the 20th century, one can start to look at Austen’s work as having a broader social and universal value, as enlightened by the didactic, fictional “Aunt Fay.” “Letters” to Alice is a tool for contemporary readers to de-code the intricacies of Jane Austen’s writing, and to apply her meaning and value to 20th or 21st century living. The most evident connection between the two texts is to do with the act of reading and writing. In both texts, the act of reading is multi faceted and works on dual levels- the reading of books, and the reading of character. For Aunt Fay in “Letters to Alice”, the former is most certainly emphatically and often patronisingly expressed: Weldon has created a caricature of a precocious Aunt figure who flatters herself in her wit and wisdom, as often found throughout her incredibly demeaning and demanding tone towards her niece, with her use of the imperative: “you must” “you ought to” and “I must know something, or at least more than you.” This use of explicit didacticism is wholly different to the implicit didacticism employed subtly throughout Austen’s novel. Austen, like Weldon, creates caricatures and stereotypes, through which an audience can easily relate. The omniscient third person narrator also often interjects with character descriptions to help create these caricatures, such as the pompous Lady Catherine, or the hysterical Mrs Bennett. However, in Pride and Prejudice, every character - as in humanity- is flawed in some way. Throughout “Letters to Alice” and “Pride and Prejudice”, Weldon and Austen reveal their character’s flaws, follies and insecurities- and in doing this with Austen’s instantly likeable and relatable heroine in particular, Elizabeth, what Austen is doing is exposing the readers themselves, and in due turn, humanity itself. Elizabeth’s major ‘epiphany’ after reading Darcy’s letter makes her believe, ‘till this moment, I never knew myself’. Austen wants to provoke this exact same reaction from her audience, as well. To read “Pride and Prejudice” as a single unit, however, may not procure such a reaction from contemporary readers, who, as embodied through the fictional Alice, find Austen’s work “petty and irrelevant”. To counteract this common viewpoint in regards to Austen’s fiction, Weldon uses the story between Aunt Fay and Alice to highlight the similarities between Regency England and 1980’s England. Alice, who is implied through her name as a kind of ‘dreamer’, is very much the Elizabeth Bennet of the 80’s: rebellious, sharp, quick witted; instead of having a muddy skirt and temperamental disposition, she has green and black hair and engages in love affairs. This is a strong connection between the two texts, and opens the door for naïve contemporary readers into Jane Austen enlightenment in relation to 20th century society. Weldon describes postmodern, pop culture television as “temporary things. These...open a little square window on the world and set the puppets parading outside for you to observe”, and it is through this description that the contemporary reader can become enriched by Pride and Prejudice. For readers who think that the novel was “petty and irrelevant”, and a stylized, meaningless work that sets the puppets out to be observed, Letters to Alice attempts to undermine this common viewpoint through similar perspectives towards humanity and universal values. Letters to Alice allows contemporary readers of Pride and Prejudice to plumb the depths of the contextual world in which the novel is set, so that a true understanding of Austen’s time can be felt. In Aunt Fay’s third letter, statistics, lists and detailed descriptions of the reality of Jane Austen’s context may create a new meaning for the contemporary reader who thought Pride and Prejudice was simply a common story within the idyllic England of the past; a ‘fairytale’: “…all dandies, coaches, balls, finery and elopements. The child’s view of history.” However after being enlightened on particular domestic habits and values, “Alice” can begin to understand that for immediate readers of Pride and Prejudice, its idyllic nature was a fairytale for them, too. This is a crucial aspect to be revealed, as readers can begin to understand that Jane Austen was creating an alternate reality to her own in order to escape, and apply her own ideas about morality and values towards marriage, women and wealth. The study of “Letters to Alice” and “Pride and Prejudice” in conjunction can reveal much about both Weldon’s, Austen’s and today’s social context. By revealing the minor social details of Austen’s time of writing, readers can begin to draw connections between the values of women, marriage and wealth and how this has shifted over 200 years. For “Alice” who is taught about how her and Austen’s worlds are, in everyday life- worlds apart. They are quintessentially different from one another- women’s freedom being suppressed in Austen’s time; women’s freedom being liberated in Weldon’s. However, by constructing a narrative in which similar ideas about character reading is explored, “Alice” can begin to understand how some ideas never grow out of the stream of eternal thought- Aunt Fay and Alice have pretenses that cloud each other’s perceptions of one another, which is inherently similar to that of Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s tumultuous courtship. Austen’s original title for “Pride and Prejudice”, “First Impressions” is a more explicit explanation of this. The first impressions of Darcy and Elizabeth, along with Aunt Fay and Alice are misaligned, which results in, much like Aunt Fay’s description of fiction, “enlightenment” about themselves, and, accordingly, the audience. Aunt Fay recognises that even “you have no idea how the world has changed in forty years”, she also points out that “people now are as valuable as people then.” Here, Aunt Fay infers that while context is constantly changing and society is always shifting, humanity is stagnant, its most 'important' values remain static. Aunt Fay also firmly states that “novels are illusions, not reality,” and exist in the celestial 'city of invention' where literature 'lives and breathes'. The reader of Letters to Alice is enlightened about this 'city' and opinions on Pride and Prejudice being merely fiction may be reiterated. The city of Invention, with its “commanding heights and swooning depths” links to Mr. Darcy's idyllic, beautiful estate: Pemberly. To Elizabeth, Pemberly is as beautiful as Aunt Fay considers the City of Invention- so perfect and wonderful, it feels like fantasy. Aunt Fay asks the reader if Pemberly is more than just a feeling of fantasy, if it really is an unlikely possibility: “Would Darcy have married Elizabeth anywhere else but in the City of Invention'” Aunt Fay enlightens Alice and the reader by informing them that the world of “Pride and Prejudice” was really a rippled reflection of troubled waters. Perspective is enriched through Aunt Fay's facts about the quality of life during Regency England, denouncing Alice’s naïve perspective on the novel. Through teaching and learning, reading and writing, “Letters to Alice” helps unite Weldon’s time to Austen’s- an arch over the years. It is this realization that the worlds of Alice and Elizabeth aren’t so different that enrichens the value of “Pride and Prejudice” as it has stood the test of time.