Composers reflect and challenge the values and attitudes of their context, and so, through a comparative study, responders gain an enhanced understanding of human society from two periods of time. Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813), written during the patriarchal Regency Era, emphasises the importance of marriage to her society whereas Weldon’s epistolary novel Letters to Alice (1984) suggests how the importance of marriage, especially for women, has decreased over time. However, both texts display shared values in their promotion of a more moral society. Hence, by exploring the contextual links, responders gain greater insight into the societies which existed in the time periods depicted.
The influence of human society’s values upon …show more content…
The Digital and Information Revolutions of the 1950s significantly reduced the population’s desire to read with the emergence of television. Upon reading Alice’s comment that “Jane Austen is…boring, petty and irrelevant”, which alludes to the perceived importance of the ongoing Cold War in Weldon’s society as opposed to the discussion of love within marriage, Aunt Fay responds “Only persist and thou shalt see, Jane Austen’s all in all to thee”. Here, the deliberate use of archaic English reflects Austen’s style, mocking postmodern society’s repulsion to traditional instructive texts. Furthermore, the imagery when Aunt Fay extends her argument to condemn popular fiction which “get used to light barbeques…The pages flare up, turn red, turn black, finish”, is critical of the modern day reader’s selection of books which provide limited opportunity for reflection in comparison to Pride and Prejudice. Furthermore, Weldon suggests in her metaphor “the writer of a bestseller should not run gleefully to the bank, but bow his head beneath the weight of so much terrifying responsibility” signifying the obligations of the author to provide moral instruction which reflects Austen’s advocation of prudence and integrity in the interior discourse “I (Elizabeth) am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh”. Hence, through the exploration of connections between her context and Austen, Weldon enables the reader to comprehend the importance of instructional novels regardless of societal
The influence of human society’s values upon …show more content…
The Digital and Information Revolutions of the 1950s significantly reduced the population’s desire to read with the emergence of television. Upon reading Alice’s comment that “Jane Austen is…boring, petty and irrelevant”, which alludes to the perceived importance of the ongoing Cold War in Weldon’s society as opposed to the discussion of love within marriage, Aunt Fay responds “Only persist and thou shalt see, Jane Austen’s all in all to thee”. Here, the deliberate use of archaic English reflects Austen’s style, mocking postmodern society’s repulsion to traditional instructive texts. Furthermore, the imagery when Aunt Fay extends her argument to condemn popular fiction which “get used to light barbeques…The pages flare up, turn red, turn black, finish”, is critical of the modern day reader’s selection of books which provide limited opportunity for reflection in comparison to Pride and Prejudice. Furthermore, Weldon suggests in her metaphor “the writer of a bestseller should not run gleefully to the bank, but bow his head beneath the weight of so much terrifying responsibility” signifying the obligations of the author to provide moral instruction which reflects Austen’s advocation of prudence and integrity in the interior discourse “I (Elizabeth) am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh”. Hence, through the exploration of connections between her context and Austen, Weldon enables the reader to comprehend the importance of instructional novels regardless of societal