Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

“I fancy Miss Price has been more used to deserve praise than to hear it…”

The story begins when our young Miss Fanny Price is removed from her family to live with her mother's sister and her family of Mansfield Park. Considered the "poor relation" and not treated well by them, her only solace is in her cousin Edmund, with whom Fanny irrevocably falls in love. Mansfield Park differs from Austen's other works because it still has her traditional comedic characters and is satirical in nature, yet it is underlined with more seriousness than her other novels. With Fanny as our ever moral compass, Austen introduces an even more pronounced layer of propriety, morality, and even thoughts on Abolition. With the foils of the fashionable Mary and Henry Crawford sweeping in from London and the fickle nature of Edmund, Fanny's staunch moral conduct drives the novel and helps her to evade all the faux pas of inevitable and sometimes irreversible misconduct to which the other characters in the novel have fallen. Fanny is one of the most underrated of Austen's heroines because through a modern eye, she can sometimes appear so unforgiving of human nature yet with a high opinion of herself because of her "inner guide" while also being passive, submissive, and fastidious. Yet, she still preservers in her own happiness because she is so steadfast in her beliefs.

Run mad as often as you choose, but do not forget update your RSVPs by April 10th, as we would like to make sure that we are aware of the correct number of attendees.

We will also announce our next book at this meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

** Please keep in mind, now that the world is opening up again and we are having meetings in person, when we are indoors, and not via zoom or outside, your RSVP is very important. If you cannot make an event, please kindly remember to adjust your status so that people on our waiting list can be notified that there is a spot for them. **

**You all were so great last year, so I thank you for continuing to update your RSVPs. I will still be still taking attendance this year. So just as a reminder, repeated no-shows will be bumped to the waitlist so as not to take up one of our limited spaces. But maybe moved day of, if the meeting is not full.**