In both Emma and Pride and Prejudice, Austen challenges the then-strict societal norms, particularly regarding introductions. Also in Mansfield, the author attacks the Church of England for enclosures of common land, pluralism, and outright ownership of slaves. However, slavery was not Austen’s only target. Slavery, especially as dealt with in Mansfield Park, receives the full Austen treatment with quotations from abolitionist writers, subtle character names, and mind manipulation. In Sense and Sensibility, Austen alludes to Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and decries women’s reliance on the kindness of relatives to provide for them. She never resorted to grand heroes or wicked villains, dealing instead with society’s ills-not least of all women’s rights, which were nearly nonexistent. At the time, Austen was one of the only novelists to consider current events in her work. Austen’s readers must remember that during her lifetime, England was at war with France and was essentially a totalitarian state habeas corpus was suspended, and treason was redefined in the strictest and most frightening terms. The author’s close attention to the period’s history supports her assertion that her subject was a radical. of Oxford) amply shows her deep research into some of the lesser-known elements of Austen’s life and work. In her debut book, a fine-grained literary study, Kelly (Classics and English Literature/Univ. Tracking the “shadowy, curiously colorless figure” of the revered novelist.
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