Views Of Society In Pride And Prejudice And Letters To Alice On First

Authors who go against the ‘typical’ views of society to create an impact on the values and ways of society, use their work to challenge these values and to encourage them to develop their perspective about society. However, the context of these works impact the key values of society and how these ideas develop. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon both use their work to challenge the ideas about class structure, the role of women and society’s prejudiced views on individuals. Although these texts were written during different periods, both authors continue to question the ideas of society by providing unique perspectives. Thus, both authors offer their unique perspective through

Austen uses letters throughout the novel to further the plot, the letter Mr. Darcy hands Elizabeth is primarily used to alter Elizabeth’s prejudiced views about Mr. Wickham and to advance the plot of the novel. Elizabeth’s reaction to the letter is gradual “stedfastly was she persuaded that he could have no explanation to give,”. The third-person narrative creates Elizabeth’s limited and prejudiced views of Mr. Darcy lead her to believe that he was a cruel and selfish man, however as she continues to contemplate Elizabeth’s views changed “She grew absolutely ashamed of herself… she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd.” Through the descriptive language, Austen expresses that society creates prejudiced views towards individuals without context and thus encourages audiences to challenge the ways of society. Weldon also uses epistolary in her work; her novel follows the structure of a series of letters. Weldon discusses that by viewing an individual with their context allows for a better understanding of the individual, “it takes great courage and persistence to swim against the stream of communal ideas.” The aphorism displays Weldon’s wisdom and thus allows for society to understand that to evolve individuals need to break prejudiced views and look at an individual’s context to better understand society’s ways and values. Thus, both Austen and Weldon express that society’s prejudiced views on individual’s neglect the person’s