Good morning and happy weekend to you! I just recently found out that this year marks exactly 200 year since the first publication of Pride and Prejudice.
I read some facts about Jane and her story that she is said to have treated just like her child. I thought that was awesome. As I pen a rewrite of the tale from the black perspective, I see the story as precious and my first baby as well. I also, know that I am not alone in writing on my good days. Especially when I completely lose my broken English and write words I haven't heard in modern society only to look them up and find it is a perfect fit.
I also found out that Jane Austen sold the book for only a few hundred euros. :( She would loved to read her book aloud in her house and had a great following while she was alive. At least she was able to see the book be accepted, where some women like Emily Bronte died before seeing her tale "Wuthering Heights" become the success it is still in this day. In fact, though it was a failure due to the harsh criticism of how mean her characters were, Emily was accepted by modern time. She was born before her time.
Jane, I hope you are able to get some satisfaction through My Black Pride and the sequel. Yes, that's right. I already wrote the first chapter of the sequel and a subsequent outline just to see if this would work and I believe it does. More on that at a later date.
After 200 years, I wondered how would Jane have penned her tale if women's liberation happened in her time.
Yesterday, the "View" women spoke about the role of men and women in a marriage. Elizabeth Hasselhoff's husband sat crunched between the women on the stage as the guest for the day. She said that she admits she is not one of those women who go off about how they do not need a man, and she pointed to him and exclaimed she needed her man.
Then Whoopi Goldberg, the forever bachelorette and outspoken woman said, "I like a man, I don't need a man'.
If I remember correctly, Whoopi received more claps than Elizabeth if she even received any at all. Then they spoke about men switching role and needing to help around the house with the traditional roles and with the children.
Elizabeth's husband said that he knew he changed more diapers than his father and said that if he is responsible for cooking that it would be less than desirable. Another host said that, "So, what if a man doesn't do it right, women need to be responsible for men's laziness?". Overall, women want to split responsibility of the household duties with their husbands.
This is a far cry from the women in Jane Austen's era, and far from anything she wrote about in Pride & Prejudice. Except there were no children and everyone had handmaidens to take care of the traditional roles of cleaning and care of the house. Hence, many people's number one complaint, if there is any, is that Pride is mostly about women talking a lot and walking around in rooms.
I have seen people say this a lot. Elizabeth, her mother and sisters never even had to worry about going to work. I do not remember what the father's business was, but we don't remember mention of him going to his factory or employees or work-related speak. This is what makes Jane Austen and many other 1800's novelist so desirable, they showed us and continue to give us a ghost's eye view of what it felt like to be at the top of society in that time. The ideal.
So,when I updated P&P with My Black Pride, I am making it more realistic, where actually my Elizabeth character must find work and does odd jobs just to accumulate money until she gets a job. I placed in there that she has the traditional role of cleaning the house once everyone else is gone and the mother cooks for the whole house joyfully. The father is the Mayor, so traditional roles are in play even in their relationships of husband and wives.
Have we really evolved so much from the Jane era when it comes to love?
I believe not so. Despite the role reversals in several areas of married life within 200 years, love still takes place the same way...boy meets girl, boy and girl have affections whether one is first or second in initiating it and boy and girl fall in love forever.
Jane 200 years ago knew the basics about love even if we never heard about any of her affairs. True love is unchanging. She knew about the true love that will always be cherished and felt throughout the ages, and conveyed it very well in the way Mr. Darcy fell for Elizabeth. It is the same reason we still know who the novelist of Pride and Prejudice is exactly 200 years later. Love is timeless and is liked and accepted by everyone.
If we authors take this quality and add heart to every story, maybe we can hope that 200 years from now, someone will be writing about their story and cherishing it as much. We dream.
Thank you everyone for reading and until next Saturday, smooches!
Enjoy the weekend,
Denise Morris
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