Fay Welden Pride And Prejudice Essay

In what ways does Fay Welden in Letters to Alice reposition readers in terms of their understanding and appreciation of Pride and Prejudice.

Reading Fay Welden’s letters to Alice repositions the readers understanding and appreciation of Pride and Prejudice, as Welden explains the context and values of the society in which the book is based. As the book is based in Austens society the Landed Gentry, in a small provincial village in the nineteenth century, the society values different things to the modern society such as appropriate marriage and manners. Welden also explains the context, comparing the lives of women from Austens society to that modern society through the use of letters to a fictional neice Alice living in todays modern society. Welden also uses Austens Pride and Prejudice to show how superior Liteture can help the reader understand the society in which
As Austens society is highly different to modern society in many aspects, only through understanding and exploring Austens society’s values and context can we really understand the plot and appreciate this work of Superior Literacy, if we do not understand the context and values of the novel, the reader is unable to fully empathise and connect with the characters and plot, not allowing to fully understand the meaning of certain plots. The context and values need to be explained as Austen did not write this novel for our modern society, she instead wrote it for the wealthy upper class of women who had the time and financial means to read.

Welden repositions the reader’s perception of the book through explaining the context of Pride and Prejudice. In today’s modern society women are theoretically equal to men, earning the same money and obtaining the same opportunities. Consequently Welden’s fictional niece Alice does not need to marry for financial stability. Therefore readers may find it hard to understand the emphasis put on marriage in the novel Pride and Prejudice. This is