Of Austen and Bedroom Furniture

About two weeks ago, I decided something crazy: I was going to re-decorate my room. If you know me well, you'll understand that this is a big undertaking for me. Anyway, so I selected furniture, a bedspread, and other various decorative items from Kohl's This entire week, packages have been arriving everyday with my new decor. As you can probably guess, I am not the type of person to use a screwdriver and take the time to put together a 20 pound piece of wood. (For example, I bought a bookcase once and thought it would be a cinch! The pieces for it laid around the living room until I had one of my neighbors build it for me.)

You're probably wondering why I'm even rambling about my home improvement adventures, but I've had a revelation. To me, going through my project is like a metaphor for my experience of reading "Pride and Prejudice." I was thrilled to begin reading it; my excitement could not be contained! I had the same feelings as I was determining which desk would look better in my room. As I kept reading, the plot became more intricate and even more entertaining. It was like a waiting game to see what would happen next.

The same happened with my awaiting furniture: I imagined what my new room would look like after it's finally done, hoping and praying it'll be amazing. However, after reading the end, I was incredibly disappointed. It seemed as if it were completely disconnected from the rest of the novel. The personality had changed; it wasn't the same witty romance I had been reading. As you can imagine, I felt this way when I finished putting together a piece of my new furniture, too.

It was a desk--a polished, white desk. The picture from the website made it seem beautiful. But, after assembling it, it seemed blah. Nowhere near as perfect as I thought it would be. It was disconnected from the style I wanted for my bedroom, just as the ending of "Pride and Prejudice" was separated from the rest of the book.

Although the end was disappointing, just like my new desk, it will grow on me. Jane Austen wrote an excellent novel, filled with fascinating characters who were life-like in every way, shape, and form. Overall, I loved the book and I won't let it get me down. I just hope the same goes for my home improvement adventure.

Love is in the air?

With valentines day recently passing how could everyone not be thinking about love and what not, so with this in mind i decided to watch pride and prejudice (the new one). believe it or not.. GREAT MOVIE! I'm usually a tough critic when it comes to movies because i don't like a movie unless the storyline is good or there is a lot of comedy. Pride and Prejudice is very interesting and when your taking a love stories class you see the movie different and it was easier to pick apart how things were back then and how they are today. Although the new movie is way different than the book i still think they get the point across. In my opinion i would definitely pick the movie over the book because i personally think the ending of the book was "dumb."

as for class it was a little disappointing to find out that it was cancelled on a day that i actually wanted to go to class :) but since were having the party today now it wasn't so bad. Overall though i liking the class and its not as bad as i thought it would be.

oh.....love

After I read all of the book, I watched the six hour movie, "Pride and Prejudice." Then I couldn't help but wonder what the newest version was like, so I watched that one also. First of all, I was happy with the book and how it turned out. I then thought that the six hour movie was very close to the book and I felt as though the movie portrayed the characters as they should have been. As for the newest version of the movie, I felt as though they left out way too much and also changed way too much. If I were to watch the newest version of the movie first, I would have never been interested in the book or anything to do with "Pride and Prejudice". The movie didn't even make Elizabeth into the character that she is portrayed as in the book. I thought that movie was just horrible. I didn't even finish watching it. I suppose you could never fit all of that story into a two hour movie and make it good. It just isn't possible because most of the book is getting a feel for what the characters are really like. Although I did enjoy the book, the story line and ending just isn't romantic enough for me. The characters made falling in love seem so dull at times. I thought I missed the part when Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth for the second time, but he did it in a way that just snuck past me and I was shocked to hear Elizabeth tell Jane the news that she was engaged. It was alright, but not one of those novels that I would like to read again and again.

Oh Mr. Darcy ...

I love this song! Just thought this song would describe Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy because they attempt to deny the fact that they have feelings for one another, but in the end it all comes out.

Otherwise, just finished reading the whole book (again) & I am always in love with the part where Mr. Darcy confides to Elizabeth that he loves her! I find it amusing every time I re-read the book or re-watch the many versions of the movie. He is so enchanting and cute in an odd way because of the way he carries himself so ... so arrogant or high in a 'sexy' gentleman like manner? :p I hope that makes sense; Mr. Darcy's character seems to be dark and mysterious at first apart from everyone else who appears to be very colorful and ... just out in the open (almost as if they are vulnerable although no one notices). Austen does a great job at concealing Mr. Darcy's life and why he carries himself that way. I love how he does not bother to argue or interact with people who gossip about the way he lives / acts and such. He does not bother because he knows it will be of no use to bother with people like that.

Other parts in the book that interest me was when Elizabeth finally agreed to marry Mr. Darcy and her other sister Mary didn't care to get out into the world. It's interesting how Mary didn't bother to, but Kitty kind of went out to explore and get a taste of life with Lydia, Jane and Elizabeth. Just thought it was odd and interesting how Austen summed up the last chapter with everyone being happy and satisfied. Then we have Mary who ... simply continues to live the way she daily does, I wonder how she would have fallen in love with someone.

Love Stories and Valentines Day.. the perfect combo

So today is Valentines day and I thought, what a perfect day to blog! All the added excitement of lovers giving each other gifts of affection like flowers, home-maid cards, and chocolates just makes a person feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Comparing the people in Pride and Prejudice to people today, they seem to act a great deal different in the past then now when expressing feelings. In the book their means of affection and telling of one's feelings seems incomparable with that of today. I know ways of expressing emotions to one another have changed over time but I can't comprehend why people would seem so "distant" back then.
This last week when the class watched and compared the videos of the two different Pride and Prejudice movies. I thought the movie that most caught my attention was the one featuring Keira Knightley. The way Elizabeth, Keira Knightley, an Mr. Darcy where talking in the rain as Darcy confessed his love (in a not so positive way) was intriguing. The closeness they had, to me, showed there was real chemistry going on. I kind of wish I was there just so I could push Elizabeth's and Darcy's heads together so they would just kiss already.
On the other hand the older movie, with Colin Firth, I thought portrayed a more factual image of how times where. In that same scene Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were a distance away from each other, which I guess can add some suspense and yearning for one another. Still I feel the other scene shows the same, if not a great deal more desire in Elizabeth's and Darcy's relationship.
This was a great book for this class and I'm glad I took the time to read it!

Female Education and Marriage

Today, every one of us has a choice to chose the path we want to take.  Whether it is to get an education first, then, love and marriage later or love and marriage first and education later.  In Jane Austen's time, the wealthier you are, the better an education, and therefore, the better a marriage match you will get.  Your social status and economic level will also be better.

In Pride and Prejudice, the father, Mr. Bennett, permits his daughters to be independant individuals.  He allows them the use of his library, making them use their brains, and to think for themselves.  He allows them to make their own decisions and stand up for what they believe is right.  On the other hand, their mother, Mrs. Bennett, isn't interested in education for her daughters; instead she wants her daughters to be the "model" of virtue so they would accepted and be a part in society.

In the Hmong culture, some families still follow James Fordyce's theory that the women are to take care of the family, children, and the domestic duties in the home.  While the men will take care of the world outside the home.  Women shouldn't have much opinions and should be meek, amiable, and know what the husband wants.  For a Hmong man to have such a wife is blessed and looked upon as fortunate and lucky.  I remember my mother telling me and teaching me the domestic duties of the home so when I get married, I will be a good daughter-in-law.  But my father, like Mr. Bennett, was always advising me to get a good education first.  My In-laws still follow Fordyce's theory, but my husband and our generation have become americanized and we do not follow this theory or our ancestors' way of thinking anymore.  It is hard for me, as a Hmong daughter-in-law, to be a good housewife, take care of my children, take care of my in-laws, the cooking, the cleaning, work forty hours a week, and get an education at the same time. In my in-laws eyes, I am not a good enough daughter-in-law for their son. 

I advise my brothers and sisters all the time, but mainly, my sisters, to get their education first before they even think about love.  Love which leads to marriage, and in time, to children.  "It is not easy to be a good daughter-in-law, take care of your husband's household, have small children to take care of while pregnant, and get an education at the same time," I tell my sisters, "Don't make the same mistakes I made, learn from my mistakes and do better than me!"  But sadly, I see my sisters making the same mistakes, they follow the path of love first.  I just hope they will wake up and realize that in this day and age, an education will be the more stable path to take first.

Why so much travel?

I am starting to see that all of the characters in "Pride and Prejudice", no matter the income level travel and take extended holidays. This strikes me as odd. If I compare travel and time away from work or home in modern times to the era represented in the book, I would most certainly need to be wealthy to afford being gone for several months out of the year. As far as a I can piece together the Bennett's have been away from home several times. These trips have totaled at least a month of time , if not more. I hope we can discuss this topic in class next week. I am curious as to how travel and vacations seem to be prevalent in "Pride and Prejudice". In my modern life I am lucky to be able to travel out of state to see family once a year, or once every two to three years. If travel and vacations were built into the society and economic business structure two hundred plus years ago, then I would have to question our modern practices. Today we have many modern conveniences and travel is easier, yet we get to spend less time traveling and enjoying friends and family. I would consider giving up modern comforts for the ability to travel as much as it seems that the Bennett family does.