Jane Austen Book Club Community Essay
Austen’s Communities
Throughout history, communities have maintained their dominance over the lives of the individual and the collective lives of those within a community. Community, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a body of people organized into a political, municipal, or social unity”. Although this is the technical definition, a community can be described in a number of other ways. In its most basic form, a community is simply a group of people. This community, typically in older times, lived in the same area and based many relationships on this. Both Persuasion by Jane Austen, and The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler illustrate this and just how the individuals in these types of communities interact with one …show more content…
All the women of the book club in the story have an immense love for Jane Austen’s novels and believe she is a brilliant writer. This comes to a head when a man named Mo Bellington challenges Bernadette and Prudie. At a fund-raiser for the Sacramento Public Library where Sylvia works, they meet writer Mo Bellington who was forced to sit at their table for the night. After conversations about his own books, Bernadette questions him on Jane Austen and which of her books was his favorite. He responded and later said, “I don’t read much women’s stuff. I like a good plot”. To which Prudie dramatically responded with “Austen can plot like a son of a bitch.” This instance shows Prudie and Bernadette judging him on his taste in books and authors. At this point in the novel, the women form more unified bonds and the book club seems to be more of an elite community than previously described in the novel. This illustrates a prime example of a community with distaste for anyone who does not regard their idols and heroes in the same light. In the novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler’s ideas of community and what it means are shown throughout. With the multiple examples of community, Fowler conveys ideas that communities may come in different forms and when you least expect it. However, no matter which way they appear in your life, they can still be beneficial to the
Throughout history, communities have maintained their dominance over the lives of the individual and the collective lives of those within a community. Community, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a body of people organized into a political, municipal, or social unity”. Although this is the technical definition, a community can be described in a number of other ways. In its most basic form, a community is simply a group of people. This community, typically in older times, lived in the same area and based many relationships on this. Both Persuasion by Jane Austen, and The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler illustrate this and just how the individuals in these types of communities interact with one …show more content…
All the women of the book club in the story have an immense love for Jane Austen’s novels and believe she is a brilliant writer. This comes to a head when a man named Mo Bellington challenges Bernadette and Prudie. At a fund-raiser for the Sacramento Public Library where Sylvia works, they meet writer Mo Bellington who was forced to sit at their table for the night. After conversations about his own books, Bernadette questions him on Jane Austen and which of her books was his favorite. He responded and later said, “I don’t read much women’s stuff. I like a good plot”. To which Prudie dramatically responded with “Austen can plot like a son of a bitch.” This instance shows Prudie and Bernadette judging him on his taste in books and authors. At this point in the novel, the women form more unified bonds and the book club seems to be more of an elite community than previously described in the novel. This illustrates a prime example of a community with distaste for anyone who does not regard their idols and heroes in the same light. In the novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler’s ideas of community and what it means are shown throughout. With the multiple examples of community, Fowler conveys ideas that communities may come in different forms and when you least expect it. However, no matter which way they appear in your life, they can still be beneficial to the