FAMILIY, PARENTS AND CHILDREN in Jane Austens novel

Pride and Prejudice

Table of Contents Theme Motivation Structure Abstract Personal contribution and originality Introduction Chapter 1- Jane Austens family and life as source of inspiration for her literature Chapter 2- Jane Austens Work Chapter 3- Pride and Prejudice Chapter 4- Parents and children in Pride and Prejudice Conclusions Charts, diagrams: Chronology - Jane Austen 1775-1817 The Works of Jane Austen Jane Austen in Chawton

Theme
In this paper I will analyse the relationships between parents and the children, the way in which parents raise their children in the victorian era of the beginning of 18th centrury in England. For this, I choose the Jane Austen's vision revealed in his famous novel Pride and Prejudice. The main theme is that, english families and parents of the beginig of 18th century generally has a major influence on the marriage choices that their daughters make.

Motivation
Jane Austen's concept of the ideal family unit reflects the process of social reform that took place during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The wave of change was led by writers who believed that the quality of family life was crucial to the quality of life generally, to the happiness of the individual, to the well-being and proper raising of children, and to the successful functioning of society as a whole. In Jane Austens era the parents point of view of what was appropriate in childrearing was very different and the way the parents treated their children created much more emotional distance between parent and child. These eighteenth and nineteenth-century views on raising children need to be explained in order to help understand Jane Austens approach to parent-child relationships in Pride and Prejudice.

Abstract
The socio-political theories oth the time produced widespread changes in the prevailing attitudes toward children and the role of parents in their upbringing: there were fundamental changes in the nature of the marriage relationship. These new beliefs contributed to the decline of the patriarchal family structure and gave rise to "affective individualism" and the "companionate marriage." This shift in the power structure of the family affected both parent-child and husbandwife relationships, resulting in a more balanced and equitable distribution of power and autonomy within the family unit.

Jane Austen's novels portray the period of transition between the two value systems, and her viewpoint corresponds to the enlightened opinions of the social reformers. I will reveal Jane Austen's view, with particular reference to the impact of the social reform movement on her concept of the family and her perception of character development and the influence of parents on focusses on parent-child relationships in the novels. Very few members of the parent generation achieve a satisfactory balance between adult supervision and personal freedom for their children, and the lack of competent parental guidance is a major source of adversity for both her protagonists and her antagonists. Much of the conflict in Jane Austen's novels revolves around the 18th century debate over parental wishes versus personal choice and over money and social status versus affection as the basis for marriage. Jane Austens belief is that love and respect are important as the foundation for marriage, and she shows the negative impact of poor marriage choices on the habits and dispositions of husband and wife. Jane Austen examines the relationships between sisters and brothers. In Jane Austen's view, a person's family circle is as incomplete without siblings as it is without parents. One of the functions of marriage for the heroine is to insure the continuing closeness between her and her favorite siblings or to give her sisters and brothers if she doesn't have any. The quality of an individual's relationships with his or her siblings is an accurate indication of the quality of his or her character.

Personal contribution and originality

What I want to show is that parent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were much less involved with raising their children than modern parents. What makes a good parent? Before we can identify which parents are good or bad, we must make a distinction between the two. Good parents are portrayed as being sympathetic to their children, providing both material and emotional support, and listening to their children. Bad parents, however, are ones who do not meet these guidelines.

Another important thing that the modern reader must realize is that families in the 18th and 19th centuries mostly operated as an economic unit, and that marriage provided ways of securing property and fortune. It was especially important for parents to secure a husband for their daughters otherwise they were not provided after their deaths because of the current property laws, which decreed that only the first male in line inherited. A concomitant advantage was that the parents could improve their own importance and wealth if they married their daughter to somebody of importance. Therefore, the concerned women did not have much choice in the matter. All in all, family life and the way family members treated each other was much more distant than relationships in modern families.

Introduction
Jane Austens novels, and especially Pride and Prejudice, explore how the heroine confronts problems caused by imbalances in her family and creates a new, healthier family through marriage. Jane Austens view of the family corresponds to 18th century and to the Victorian society ideals of order and harmony in nature and in human relations. Her novels reveal indirectly the need for proportion and balance in the family configuration by ilustrating how inbalances in the family structure affect the social functioning of the family members. The family is the basic social unit to which an individual belongs; it is the primary source of moral education and the space in which the most moral choices are made. A natural order and symetru in the family constelation enable its members to participate sucessfully in the wider community. The marriage has a crucial importance because it is the moment when the family starts to exist. Jane Austens novels show the transition in attitudes toward the family that began near the end of the 17th century. Gradually the emphasis changed form seeing marriage as a socio-political alliance between lineage to recognizing that the emotional relationshi between husband and wife was a major factor in the social viability of the family. Marrige came to be viewd as a relationship based on personal affection and individual choice. Ideal family for the author reflects the process of social reform that took place during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

This shift in the power structure of the family profoudly affected both parent-child and husbandwife relationship, resulting in a more and balanced and equitable distribution of authority and autonomy within the family unit. Jane Austens novels portray the period of transition between the two value systems, and her viewpoint mirrors the enlightened opinion of this tendency. The conflict in Jane Austens novels revolves around the 18th Century debate over parental wishes versus personal choice and over money and status versus affection as the basis of marriage. Consequently, the heroines and their future husbands must learn to evaluate the commonly held beliefs and widespread practices of their society and strive for a higher level of self-knowledge and moral awareness. Jane Austens heroes and heroines marry out fo a deep and well-tried mutual attachment. They overcome parental objections and the most important task of the heroine as she approaches adulthood is to achieve a balanced union between her private emotional self and the requierements of her society. Therefore the main goal of this paper is to find out what roles the parent child relationships play in Pride and Prejudice novel and to what extent these relationships influence the heroines behaviour and decisions.

Chapter 1- Jane Austens family and life as source of inspiration for her literature

What Henry Austen said of his sister: "Her stature rather exceeded the middle height; her carriage and deportment were quiet but graceful; her complexion of the finest texture, it might with truth be said that her eloquent blood spoke through her modest cheek." "Her pure and eloquent blood spake in her cheeks and so distinctly wrought that you had almost said her body thought."

And James-Edward Austen, Jane's nephew said: "In person she was very attractive; her figure was rather tall and slender, her step light and firm, and her whole appearance expressive of health and animation. In complexion she was a clear brunette with a rich colour; she had full round cheeks, with mouth and nose small and wellformed bright hazel eyes, and brown hair forming natural curls close round her face." The great novelist was born December 16, 1775, to Reverend George Austen and the former Cassandra Leigh in Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children. Like the central characters in most of her novels, the Austens were a large family of respectable lineage but no fortune; her father supplemented his clergyman's income by farming. This lively and cheerful family frequently passed their evenings in novel-reading, charades and amateur theatrics. Among her siblings, her sister Cassandra, three years older, was her lifelong friend and confidant. Her large family supplied material for the kind of novels popular when she wrote, but she chose not to draw upon any of it. She seems to have fallen in love when young with one Tom Lefroy, a dashing young man from whom she was parted for financial reasons. Later, Jane was proposed to by a rich but shambling young man, Harris Bigg-Wither, whose sisters she liked, but after a brief moment of acceptance she took the took the advice offered by Jane Bennet of Pride and Prejudice: never to marry without affection. Although she never married, Jane had several romantic liasons, the most serious with a Rev. Blackall who died suddenly, just before they were to become formally engaged. After her father's death in 1805 the family moved to Southampton, and in 1809 her wealthy brother Edward was able to install Jane, Cassandra, and their mother in a "pretty cottage" back in Hampshire. From 1809 on Austen lived happily with her mother and sister, her time employed in writing. In 1816, at the age of 41, Jane started to become ill with what some say might have been Addison's disease. She made impressive efforts to continue working at a normal pace. At some point, Jane's condition deteriorated to such a degree that she ceased writing. She died on July 18, 1817.

Chapter 2- Jane Austens Work

Jane was a writer from her teens until her death, although hardly anyone outside her immediate family knew it, since all her novels were published anonymously. Indeed, when she was living with relatives after her father's death and writing in the family parlor, she asked that a squeaky hinge on the room's swinging door not be oiled so that she would have time to hide her manuscripts when her nephews and nieces ran into the room. Incidentally, Austen's identity finally became known in 1814, after Pride and Prejudice. Male writers have always been able to study their craft in university or coffeehouse, group themselves into movements, search out predecessors for guidance or patronage, collaborate or fight with their contemporaries. But women through most of the nineteenth century were barred from the universities, isolated in their own homes, painfully restricted in friendship. The personal give-and-take of the literary life was closed to them Without it, they studied with a special closeness the works written by their own sex, and developed a sense of easy, almost rude familiarity with the women who wrote them. Jane Austen, had she been a man, she would probably have gone to university. But she stayed home with mother at Steventon, Bath, and Chawton. She visited a brother's family now and then, wrote letters to sisters and nieces, and read Sarah Harriet Burney, Mrs. Jane West, Anna Maria Porter, Mrs. Anne Grant, Elisabeth Hamilton, Laetitia Matilda Hawkins, Helen Maria Williams, and the rest of the women writers of her day. While not widely known in her own time, Austen's comic novels of love among the landed gentry gained popularity after 1869, and her reputation skyrocketed in the 20th century. Her novels, including Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, are considered literary classics, bridging the gap between romance and realism. Today, Austen is considered one of the greatest writers in English history, both by academics and the general public. In 2002, as part of a BBC poll, the British public voted her No. 70 on a list of "100 most famous Britons of all time." Austen's transformation from little-known to internationally renowned author began in the 1920s, when scholars began to recognize her works as masterpieces, thus increasing her general popularity. The popularity of her work is also
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evident in the many film and TV adaptations of Emma, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, as well as the TV series and film Clueless, which was based on Emma.

Googles logo has been changed at Jane Austens 235th birthday to commemorate the event.

Critics have discussed amongst other things her authentic style of writing, the heroines that Austen constructed and Austens view on marriage and social class because all of these subjects are very prominent in her work. Another thing that critics have picked up on is the fact that Austen is very concerned with social education in her novels as well. Jane Austens writing focused on the rituals of youthful courtship which she observed within her own family and among the English professional and landed classes in general. She was particularly interested in the changing attitudes towards marriage among these young people and their parents. There had been a slight shift from parent-power to arrange marriages of social and financial convenience to daughter-power by which a young lady might have some say in the matter of choosing a mate she fancied. The mating game in the 1800s was not one to be entered lightly, either by young gentlemen or by young ladies. It is fortunate indeed that we have Jane Austens six novels which demonstrate so powerfully the vulnerability of young girls who were expected to play by the rules and to live up to the huge responsibilities placed upon them for the familys good name and prosperity. It is also clear that there were regrettable pressures on young men which precluded their marrying for
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love let us remember Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility who apparently thought of Marianne, the love he gave up for a more profitable marriage, with lasting regret. However, Jane Austens focus is principally on the pressures which a young woman was under to find future happiness while negotiating the manners and customs of the time. Given that all of her five eligible brothers married well, while she and Cassandra remained spinsters, it is understandable that Jane Austen must have felt that unmarried young women needed a voice through literature which they were not generously given in society at that time.

Jane Austen's heroines have different backgrounds, with a full range of parents. Yet all of them set out to accomplish and succeed at gaining what, in Austen's day, was considered the main purpose for young women. They all marry, and for the most part, they marry well. Most importantly, they marry for love.

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Because she cared deeply and primarily about young women, because she suffered from a rooted disrespect for parents, especially fathers, because she saw the only act of choice in a woman's life as the making of a marriage upon which alone depended her spiritual and physical health, Austen turned a severe and serious eye (for here she was rarely satirical) on the economic life of her heroes. Heroes were potential husbands.

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Chapter 3- Pride and Prejudice

Written in 1796-1797, initially called First Impressions, revised and renamed Pride and Prejudice in 1797 and published in 1813.

Chief Characters Flawed-But-Fabulous-Elizabeth Bennet Optimistic-Jane Bennet Mild-Mannered-Mr Bennet Nightmare-Wife-Mrs Bennet Superior-And-Spoilt-Mr Darcy

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Nice-Guy-Mr Bingly Bad-Boy-Wickham Typical-Teen-Lydia Countess-of-Control-Lady Catherine de Bourgh Clawing-Mr Collins Backstabbing-and-Bitchy-Bingly sisters Pragmatic-Charlotte Lucas

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Summary Elizabeth Bennet is one of five daughters, a plight that her father bears as best he can with common sense and a general disinterest in the silliness of his daughters. Elizabeth is his favorite because of her level-headed approach to life when his own wife's greatest concern is getting her daughters married off to well-established gentlemen. Only Jane, Elizabeth's older sister, is nearly as sensible and practical as Elizabeth, but Jane is also the beauty of the family, and therefore, Mrs. Bennet's highest hope for a good match. When Mr. Bingley, a young gentleman of London, takes a country estate near to the Bennet's home, Mrs. Bennet begins her match-making schemes without any trace of subtlety or dignity. Despite Mrs. Bennet's embarassing interference, Mr. Bingley and Jane become fond of one another. Mr. Darcy, who has accompanied Bingley to the country, begins his acquaintance with Elizabeth, her family, and their neighbors with smug condescension and proud distaste for the all of the country people. Elizabeth, learning of his dislike, makes it a point to match his disgust with her own venom. She also hears from a soldier that she has a fondness for that Darcy has misused the man. Without thinking through the story, Elizabeth immediately seizes upon it as another, more concrete reason to hate Mr. Darcy. She contradicts and argues with Darcy each time they meet, but somewhere along the way he begins to like Elizabeth. When Bingley leaves the countryside suddenly and makes no attempts to contact Jane anymore, the young woman is heartbroken. Elizabeth, who had thought well of Bingley, believes that there is something amiss in the way that he left Jane in the lurch. Only when Elizabeth goes to visit her friend at the estate of Darcy's aunt does the mystery begin to unfold. After several encounters with Mr. Darcy while visiting her friend, Elizabeth is shocked when Darcy proposes to her. Elizabeth refuses him and questions him about the way that he misused her soldier friend and his undoubted role in the way that Bingley abandoned Jane. Darcy writes a letter to explain himself, and Elizabeth is embarrassed to learn that she had been mislead about Darcy's character. Had she known the truth, she would have loved Darcy as he loved her. Darcy leaves that part of the country before she can sort out her feelings and make amends with him. Then she meets him again when she is touring the gardens of his estate with her aunt and uncle. Darcy treats her with kindness and she believes he may still love her, but before anything can be done about it, she
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learns that one of her younger sisters has shacked up with the very soldier who mislead Elizabeth and the rest of her family about Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth returns home immediately. When the indignity of her sister's shot-gun wedding is straightened out, Elizabeth is surprised that Darcy returns to the country with Bingley. She expected that the shame of her sister's actions had ruined any chances of a relationship with Mr. Darcy, or Jane and Bingley. Elizabeth learns from her aunt that Darcy did a great part to help get her younger sister properly married to the infamous soldier. Jane and Bingley sort out the misunderstanding that drove him away before and get engaged. Then Elizabeth and Darcy work out their misunderstandings and agree to marry.

Chapter 4- Parents and children in Pride and Prejudice

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The main examples of parenting in Pride and Prejudice are Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Their presence in the novel allows for extensive comments on their parenting skills. Mr. Bennet is not considered to be a good parent because he was too passive. When he could have offered helpful advice, he buried himself in his study. He owed it to his daughters to play an active role in their lives and provide guidance. Austens biggest issue with Mr. Bennet is the fact that he neglects important parental duties. Austen presents Mr. Bennet as a sarcastic man who rather makes fun of his daughters and his wife than seriously attempt to improve their behaviour. Furthermore, as a father he should have been in charge of providing his daughters with dowries to ease their way into marriage but he was unable to do that because instead of saving some of his money he spent it all. Mrs. Bennet was at the opposite end of the spectrum. She was too involved in her childrens lives and didnt allow them to develop their independence. Austen predominantly criticises Mrs. Bennet because of her ignorance and the foolishness of her ways. Her behaviour is embarrassing for her own family and also for other people from their society because she does not really know what she is talking about most of the time. Furthermore, Mrs. Bennets parenting skills are far from adequate because of her obsessive, controlling behaviour. She is so completely engrossed in getting her daughters married that she does not notice that her efforts are often counterproductive and have the potential to make her daughters miserable. Moreover, the additional fact that she is mostly concerned with her own wellbeing and fancies herself ill with nerves most of the time contributes to the bad image Mrs. Bennet has with Austens readers. However, it is obvious from the text that Mrs. Bennet prefers one daughter over the other when it comes to marrying them off. Mrs. Bennets view on the marriage she intends for Elizabeth is very clear: Elizabeth was the least dear to her of all her children; and though the man and the match were quite good enough for her, the worth of each was eclipsed by Mr. Bingley and Netherfield. Mr. Bennet is partly responsible for Mrs. Bennets absurd match-making behaviour because she fully understands, despite all her other flaws, the importance of securing a future for her daughters. Nevertheless, no matter how inadequate the Bennet parents are, Austen created them in such a way that it is clear that they mean well for their children. However, Austen shows that
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there is a problem with their approach to parenting. This is especially clear because she makes Mr. Bennet acknowledge the error of his ways at the end of the novel. Now, lets look at the good children. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth is a fine example. How does she treat her parents? She seeks her father for advice and goes along with her mothers many wishes. While she does have opinions of her own, she accommodates her parents

wherever reasonable. A baby girl posed less of a risk since she was very unlikely ever to inherit property while there was any male heir available somewhere in the family. This inheritance arrangement was called male primogeniture, and it was the established legal system at that time. (Jane Austen presents the five Bennet girls as victims of this procedure in Pride and Prejudice. The system ensured that women rarely became heirs to property. Instead, eldest sons or, if no sons were available, closest male relatives inherited the family estates to prevent the splitting up of properties and land. It is also interesting to see how the behaviour of the Bennet parents influences the Bennet children. The five Bennet sisters have very different characters from each other. For example, Lydia and Kitty are very unruly and wild girls; Mr and Mrs. Bennet have never checked their behaviour and therefore turned a blind eye to their poor social skills and basically have neglected to teach them how to behave themselves properly. Mary, on the other hand is extremely serious and very convinced of her own abilities as is shown on various occasions throughout the novel. Mary clearly feels that studying is more important than having fun or at least that is what she says so herself in a reaction to Lydias behaviour: Far be it from me, my dear sister, to deprecate such pleasures. They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me. I should indefinitely prefer a book. Her exaggerated seriousness also causes her to lack social skills and manners. The eldest sister, Jane is very sweet tempered and desires to do good by everybody, which shows itself in her determination to think well of everybody even up to a point that she tries to smooth over Mr. Bingleys behaviour towards herself in spurning her affections: Finally, Elizabeth herself is a strong-minded person who is perhaps a bit quick in judging other people without really knowing what is going on as she does for example in Mr. Wickhams case.
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Furthermore, as mentioned before she tends to have a sarcastic streak which reminds the reader of her fathers tendency to make fun of people. However, compared to her sisters Elizabeth realizes that her behaviour has consequences that are not always pleasant. Jane is the only sister whose behaviour does not really change; therefore Austen seems to be implying that Janes behaviour is the most appropriate behaviour for a young lady. However, Austen also shows that sometimes Jane is too pliable by having Elizabeth questioning her behaviour as she does for example with Janes reaction to Mr. Collins marrying Charlotte Lucas. Furthermore, the Bennet sisters do not have a close relationship with each other because of the great difference between their characters and interests. From all sisters Elizabeth and Jane are particularly close and it is quite possible that their relationship is based on Austens own relationship with her older sister Cassandra.

Conclusions
Jane Austen has come to speak for all readers who are interested in how the individual can survive with integrity within a restricted society, whether past, present or future. The voice she uses is often subtle in its delicious irony, either when she speaks as narrator or through one of her characters. Whatever tone she chooses to adopt, it is a mark of Jane Austens genius that the consistent struggle for individual integrity within society is as relevant to her readers today as it was at the time she was writing, two hundred years ago. She presents situations which may be ridiculous, amusing, engaging, challenging or pitiful, and her heroines cope with these experiences from a number of psychological standpoints which include Mariannes emotional vulnerability, Emmas controlling arrogance and Annes self-contained humility, to name but a few. Whatever the inner or outer circumstances which are brought to bear on her heroine, Jane Austen always examines the struggle for individual integrity in terms of body and soul, mind and heart, and moves beyond exploring the manners and customs of the day to illuminating the universality of human experience.

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Chronology - Jane Austen 1775-1817

1775 born Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children. 1795 writing "Elinor and Marianne" (which became Sense and Sensibility ). 1796-7 writing "First Impressions" (which became Pride and Prejudice). 1798 writing Susan (which became Northanger Abbey ). 1801 family moves to Bath. Jane and Cassandra meet Rev. Blackall; he dies before he and Jane can become formally engaged. 1803 Susan sold to a publisher, but remains unpublished. 1804 father dies. 1806 family moves to Southampton.
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1809 Jane, Cassandra, and their mother move back to Hampshire, to a comfortable cottage provide by their brother Edward. 1811 Sense and Sensibility published. 1811-3 writing Mansfield Park. 1813 Pride and Prejudice published. 1814 Mansfield Park published. 1814-5 writing Emma. 1815-6 writing Persuasion. 1816 Emma published. Henry Austen goes bankrupt; Jane contracts her fatal illness. 1817 dies. 1818 Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published together.

The Works of Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey- Jane Austen's first major novel was written in 1798-99, when she was in her early twenties. It is a comic love story set in Bath about a young reader who must learn how to separate fantasy from reality. Miss Austen sold the novel (then entitled Susan) to a publisher in 1803, and the work was advertised but never published. She bought it back many years later, and her brother Henry Austen published the novel as Northanger Abbey after her death in 1817. Sense and Sensibility- was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be published. She began to write it sometime around 1797, and she worked on it for many years before its publication in 1811. The title page said that it was written "By a Lady", and only her immediate family knew that Jane Austen was the author. Impetuous Marianne Dashwood tumbles into a fairytale romance that
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goes sour, and her practical older sister Elinor copes with the family's financial problems while hiding her own frustrated romantic hopes. The book was a success, and it even earned a profit! Pride and Prejudice- was first written in the late 1700's, then rewritten in 1811-1812 and finally published in early 1813. It is probably the most-read of all of Jane Austen's novels and is a popular favorite among many. Originally entitled First Impressions, the novel deals with the misjudgments that often occur at the beginning of an acquaintance and how those misjudgments can change as individuals learn more about each other. Mansfield Park- was written between February, 1811 and the summer of 1813. It was the third novel Jane Austen had published and it first appeared on May 4, 1814. During her lifetime, it was attributed only to "The author of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice", and the author's identity was unknown beyond her family and friends. It is Jane Austen's most complex novel and deals with many different themes, from the education of children, to the differences between appearances and reality. The version of the novel housed here at Austen.com is slightly annotated. Lovers' Vows: This is the play that the Bertrams wish to enact in the first volume of Mansfield Park. In addition to the text of the play, a synopsis is provided here, as well as a short analysis explaining some of the objections to the play within the novel and a cast list. Emma- was written in 1814-1815, and while Jane Austen was writing it, it was suggested to her by a member of the Prince Regents' household that she dedicate it to His Royal Highness. Austen took the suggestion as it was intended--as a command--and Emma was thus dedicated, but the dedication itself is rather slyly worded. Emma deals with a young woman's maturation into adulthood and the trouble she gets herself into along the way. The version of the novel housed here at Austen.com is slightly annotated. Persuasion- was written in 1815-1816, while Jane Austen was suffering from her fatal illness. She was still working on some revisions at the time of her death in 1817. The novel was published posthumously by her brother, Henry Austen. Persuasion is a novel of second chances, expectations of society, and the constancy of love. You can also read the preface which Henry

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wrote telling the world of his sister's authorship, life, and untimely death: A Biographical Notice of the Author. Juvenilia- Jane Austen's works from her childhood are full of enthusiasm, humor, and very creative spelling. We do not host the texts of the Juvenilia or her uncompleted works at Austen. See the excellent Jane Austen Information Page for the e-text of the major works from her juvenilia, some of Jane Austen's letters, biographical information, and much more.

Jane Austen in Chawton

Chawton is of course famous for the fact that this is where Jane Austen did almost all of her mature writing. Writing would have occupied a good deal of her time, but family life too had its pulls. The Austens were generally a close and loving family and there were frequent visits from brothers and young nieces and nephews. To these Jane and Cassandra were much loved aunts.
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Jane, in particular, would get involved with their games, making up stories and playing songs for them on the piano. She was herself an accomplished pianist and is said to have practised for two hours every morning before breakfast. A daily routine would include, as well family meals, long walks and chatting and sewing in the evening. The house is a pleasant seventeenth century house in the pretty village of Chawton in Hampshire not far from her birthplace of Steventon. The rooms of the House and Museum, along with its garden, and with its prominent position at the heart of Chawton Village, all help to provide a tangible connection to the environment where the Austen family lived. Nowadays Austen's house is a museum with an attractive collection of items connected with Jane and her family. There is some of her jewellery, and examples of her needlework skill. The pretty garden contains many varieties of plants and herbs common in the late 18th century and is still a peaceful spot. In the Old Bakehouse you will be able to see Jane's donkey carriage that she used when she was ill and too weak to travel far on foot. It has recently been refurbished and is used on special occasions. Cassandra's Cup, named after Jane Austen's sister, is a delightful tea room just across the road.

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Austen's grave in Winchester Cathedral

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Bibliography
Austen, Jane, Kinsley, James(editor), Oxford University Press, 2004
Abbott, Rob Jane Austen A Beginners Guide (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 2001) Tomalin, Claire Jane Austen: A Life (Penguin, London 1998) Porter, Roy English Society in the Eighteenth Century (Penguin, London, 1982 )

http://www.victorianweb.org Family Dynamics in Jane Austen's Novels, By Annie Newman, http://www.pemberley.com/papers/famaust.htm https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/9470/8109713.pdf?seque nce=1 http://janeausten.faithweb.com http://www.austen.com http://happinesswithausten.wordpress.co http://www.gradesaver.com/pride-and-prejudice/ http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/ http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/educ_schools/pdfs/Manners_and_Customs.pdf
http://www.biography.com/people/jane-austen-9192819?page=2

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