Pride and Prejudice Book Report

Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen 1) In Pride and Prejudice, a wealthy and powerful Mr. Darcy falls in love with a poor girl of a peculiar family with no background named Elizabeth, and although she rejects him at first with cold civility, throughout the book, both their character changes as they learn more about each other, and amidst many transitions, finally reach conjugal felicity in the end.
2) One of the themes in Pride and Prejudice is what a hasty first impression and judgment can mislead to. As it’s original title was “First Impressions”, there are many scenes in this book that show just how important and destructing a first impression may be. Just like her family and neighbors, even lively minded Elizabeth who took pride in her judgments mistakened Mr. Darcy as an inconceivably rude man, full of pride and “having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with as his [polite] friend.” Most had immediately thought of Mr. Darcy as a conceited man, just because he did not want to be introduced to strangers at the ball. No one ever considered him to be shy, or that his pride came from a well-deserved family of many generations. People just seem to judge from what they see at first, on the outside, and Mr. Darcy’s fortune made people think his reserved manner came from pride of his status, and that his shyness with others came from the fact that he would not deign to converse with people of lower status. An example of Elizabeth showing her wrong feelings of Mr. Darcy is when she reads a letter from him; it quotes, “With a strong prejudice against everything he might say, she began to read…” All her and her neighbors prejudice against him just started off with a hasty first impression.
3) I think my book Pride and Prejudice is a classic because it is the classic romance story of two young souls, where the first part of the book is merely nothing but coldness between them, but on the second half, one after another, they both realize that they are the perfect match for each other. They basically complement each other, as Elizabeth’s liveliness of mind could enlighten Mr. Darcy’s mind, and his knowledge and thinking could in turn broaden Elizabeth’s mind. Another reason why I think Pride and Prejudice is considered to be a classic is because they whole of the book is about pride and prejudice, and how they affect our life, cloud our vision. Since human beings are basically made up of pride, and can hardly avoid prejudice, this book is a living example of us, and can teach us many lessons, such as not making hasty judgments, not judging a book by its cover, etc. But unfortunately, many of these lessons, such as not showing prejudice, are sometimes unavoidable. The last reason I think Pride and Prejudice is considered to be a classic is because of the lively characters that play a great role in the book. Of course, there is the silly Mrs. Bennet, the indifferent Mr. Bennet, the high-spirited Elizabeth, the benevolent Jane, the solemn Mary, the frivolous Lydia, the tall and proud Darcy, the well-mannered Mr. Bingley, and the condescending Lady Catherine. With these characters, some alike and others opposites, Jane Austen manages to weave an intriguing tale that captured the hearts of many, and became today’s well-known classic.