Chapter 11 "Gender" February 14 2012

I learned that in the 1800's, gender was very important, and was defined by how women and men were forced to present themselves and behave. Society pushed women to act feminine and not get involved in masculine things, which were reserved only for the male gender. There were certain things we do in the present that would be blasphemous back then. There was a difference between a "union", which is the joining of a man and a woman, and actually falling in love and wanting to be together for the right reason. Therefore, there was unity and then there was romance. A union was mainly used for family ties and affecting social status, and it was stated a couple times in Pride and Prejudice, mostly by the mothers who wanted to forcefully put their daughter in a union with an upper-class man. Jane Austen's style went deep into the perspective of women's minds and how they felt conflicted about love and the other sex, but it prevented us from delving into the minds of men in the story. Throughout the story, the reader was kept on edge, not knowing how the men really felt and what their true motives were, despite their observable actions.