Graded Paper #1: An Analysis of “Why men really do not enjoy Jane Austen’s novels” “It’s a fact that more women read Jane Austen than men”, says Vic, a blogger. One might want to know why, so an individual might research and discover that many men say the real reason they do not like Jane Austen is because,” the main characters are girls and I am a guy” blaming the reason that they do not like her works on the bases of it not being relatable. In actuality, men do not like Austen because she depicts men as exactly what they are.
In her novel Sense and Sensibility, there is John Dashwood who is characterized as an easily tempted man who does not think for himself. There is also, John Willoughby and Edward Farris who start off as good guys and then start acting deceitful. By making these men out to be the opposite of what is expected — heroic or honorable — it leaves a big disconnect between the male audiences and for that reason men do not enjoy Jane Austen’s work. Men are often times seen as the knight in shining amour but Jane Austen portrays them as humans who are easy to tempt by women.
One example of this idea, is when Fanny Dashwood convinces her husband to give his half-sisters and his stepmother nothing after the death of his father. She convinces her husband to keep the money for the sake of his only son and she does this by persuasively saying, “Consider, that when the money is once parted with, it can never return. Your sisters will marry, and it will be gone for ever. If, indeed it could ever be restored to our little boy” (Austen 8). Fanny uses her son — in her explanation to her husband as to why he should not give them all of the money — as a pawn.
As the conversion progresses, he does what she suggest him to do by saying, “I believe you are right, my love; it will be better that there should be no annuity in the case; whatever I may give them occasionally will be of far greater assistance than a yearly allowance” (Austen 9). Austen — throughout the quotes — is able to suggest that men are feeble characters who are easy to control because in one instance John is saying, “I should honor my father’s wishes and take care of my sisters” and after a few pages he changes his mind due to his wife offering advice to him.
A man are often times portrayed as the head of authority and a woman is compliant to his wishes, but in reality a woman has been able to tempt men into doing what she would like them to do for a long time. Austen points this out so that it is apparent to the reader that she has an undesirable view on men because they are so easy to entice and therefore men do not like to read her work because she calls them out on their behaviors. In literature and society men are portrayed as decent and all around virtuous people but Jane Austen thinks otherwise when she adds the characters John Willoughby and Edward Farris into the stories plot.
Edward and John are the desired suitors for Elinor and Marianne. These men start off the in the novel as a breath of fresh air for the women since their brother turned his back on his own family. But these characters are no different than John Dashwood because just like him, these men are deceiving. Edward is deceiving because he shows an interest in Elinor, then becomes standoffish and shifty, and then he is said to be secretly engaged. When the pair first meet Elinor is really not sure about how to feel about Edward but she admits that he is not like his sister Fanny.
Then she says to Marianne, “… that I think very highly of him — that| greatly esteem that I like him” (Austen 16). When they move to the Barton Cottage, and he comes to visit them he starts act to shifty and then Marianne sees that he is wearing a ring/locket with some hair in it and she ask him about it and he replies that, “Yes; it is my sister’s hair. The setting always cast a different shade on it you know” (Austen 74). Later, we find out from Lucy — Edward’s actual suitor — that they write letters to each other and that the hair in the locket/ ring belongs to her.
Once, the reader discovers these things about Edward one can only conclude that Edward, like the other male characters in the novel are untrustworthy he acts like he is interested in Elinor and he comes all the way to visit her in Barton Village, but while he is there he lies to her and then she finds out the truth. John Willoughby is no different from Edward he too shows interest in Marianne and then leaves because he aunt asked him to come to London for some reason and this news leaves Marianne upset.
Although, the reader does not know why he leaves all of a sudden one can conclude based on the depiction and the pattern that the suitors follow, his departure is not for a good reason. If he really respected Marianne or even her family his departing message would not have been so cryptic and he would have been straightforward with Marianne, instead of leaving her to be,”… awake the whole night, and wept the greatest part of it” (Austen 63). Austen starts with the men being pleasant characters then makes them out to be what they really are.
She does this to further prove that men are not always how they are said to be embodied and since men are not shown in a way that is worthy enough, they do not like Jane Austen’s novels. In conclusion, one can be certain that Austen adds the male characters in her novel, Sense and Sensibilit I not only to criticize men but to point out that men are not as good as society and literature make them out to be. She does not glorify them, hold them up on a pedestal, or make them out to be heroic. Instead, she gives the men flaws and which helps the men be more realistic and for those reasons men do not like her novels.
This is seen specifically in the character John Dashwood who like many men allow their wives to convince them into making decisions but the same m Austen’s ideals of typical men is also seen in her characters John Willoughby and Edward Farris they seem like good men and se facts suitors but their credibility throughout the first part begins to waiver as the reader progresses in the story. Although some may object that men do like Austen, I would say that a greater amount of men do not like her because she is honest and is blunt about her ideas of men and for those reasons most men do not like her.
