In chapter seventeen of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility, she depicts what appears prima facie as a failure to communicate within a family that ought to have no problems with communication between one and another. Each member of the Dashwood family experiences a breakdown of communication when they need and want it the most. Marianne followed be her mother and finishing with Elinor each have received a turn to communicate towards the ends of their own betterment, yet each successively fails to do so. On the one hand, both Marianne and her mother fail to communicate due to the language of sensibility, in which their views on love and marriage are imprisoned, on the other hand Elinor is contained in her sense. By using specific language
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Dashwood arise in both cases from a disposition to sensibility. Elinor, while suffering from the same lack of communication, is a victim not of sensibility but its antonym Sense. While arising from separate disposition, amazingly similar problems are faced by Elinor. Edward Ferrars arrives in Devonshire and encounters Marianne and Elinor are taking a walk around the country side. They both remain cold and reserved in their interactions. It is immediately apparent to Marianne. Austen writes, “To Marianne, indeed, the meeting between Edward and her sister was but a continuation of that unaccountable coldness which she had often observed…” From the beginnings of their actions with each other meaningful conversation is not to be found. There is something which stands in the way the communication that ought to transpire between the two. After the beginning of their interactions Elinor makes a statement that "No; my feelings are not often shared, not often understood. But sometimes they are." Here is an admission of her inability to communicate, and that when she does it is rarely successful. We can see what limits her communication at the end of chapter seventeen. Austen paints the disposition of Elinor as
Dashwood arise in both cases from a disposition to sensibility. Elinor, while suffering from the same lack of communication, is a victim not of sensibility but its antonym Sense. While arising from separate disposition, amazingly similar problems are faced by Elinor. Edward Ferrars arrives in Devonshire and encounters Marianne and Elinor are taking a walk around the country side. They both remain cold and reserved in their interactions. It is immediately apparent to Marianne. Austen writes, “To Marianne, indeed, the meeting between Edward and her sister was but a continuation of that unaccountable coldness which she had often observed…” From the beginnings of their actions with each other meaningful conversation is not to be found. There is something which stands in the way the communication that ought to transpire between the two. After the beginning of their interactions Elinor makes a statement that "No; my feelings are not often shared, not often understood. But sometimes they are." Here is an admission of her inability to communicate, and that when she does it is rarely successful. We can see what limits her communication at the end of chapter seventeen. Austen paints the disposition of Elinor as