“Mansfield Park” by Jane Austen

“Mansfield Park” is not my favourite book by Jane Austen. It doesn’t stop me, though, from rereading it from time to time as I do with all this author’s books. For a long time, “Northanger Abbey” remained my least favourite Austen novel. But after the last rereading a few years ago, it moved up my scale. I found its sarcastic tone refreshing, and I think the style of this book demonstrates the author’s personal evolution.

When I read “Mansfield Park” for the first time, it felt long. Yet, rereading it recently, I was surprised that a different part of the book seemed too slow to me. The chapters dedicated to Fanny’s stay with her original family in Portsmouth dragged. Before, I enjoyed them more. I think that with age, it became clear that Austen’s portrayal of the domestic routine of an impoverished family with many children is too realistic. When we are young, we often have idealistic views like ‘health cannot be bought with money’, ‘money cannot bring happiness ’, etc. Only when we grow older and face more situations that prove that it isn’t always that simple, do we embrace a wider perspective about money and happiness.

I like Fanny Price. She seems real to me. She is just the way a girl living in Jane Austen’s times, placed in her circumstances, could be. Of course, a daughter of a poor sister sent to reside with the family of a rich one could, unlike quiet, modest and fearful Fanny, be boisterous and active. But here the question arises, wouldn’t people like Lady Bertram and Mrs. Norris send her back home after they found out about the ‘faults’ in her temperament. Not every young girl should be athletic, quick-witted, and spirited. The world is huge, and there is a place for a Fanny Price in it too. It’s another matter altogether if modern readers don’t want to read books with ‘Fannys’ as main characters.

This time, I especially enjoyed reading about sombre and earnest Edmund’s infatuation with Mary Crawford. I thought that it might be how Jane Austen imagined Mr. Bennett had fallen into a matrimonial trap that Mrs. Bennett, with very possibly the help of her mother, had set for him. The girl was pretty, lively, with the manners designed to please a man. Not every man can stop himself from grabbing what looks like a lucky chance if his feelings are set ablaze. I found it endearing how Edmund spoke about Miss Crawford’s ‘virtues’ and her natural goodness, which had been marred by the influences of the society she had been placed in.

While “Pride and Prejudice” and “Persuasion” remain my favourite Austen novels, I find it refreshing to reread all the others as well. With almost every rereading, my impressions and opinions about the characters change, and to me, it is interesting to follow the evolution of my views.