Sense & Sensibility Chapter 25

Mrs Jennings invites the Dashwood girls to London, Elinor accepts to save Mrs Jennings from Marianne (and Marianne from herself)

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Transcript

Frances :  Kia ora, welcome to the amateur austinite. i'm frances duncan, author, austinite, and life coach. my cohost is emma dunning.

Frances:  blue assed fly. okay. can you tell me what that means?

Emma:  have you heard the phrase rushing around like a blue assed fly? no. it means just buzzing around between one thing and another, making lots of noise. so emma's busy? yes. i am rushing around like a blue ass fly.

Frances:  okay. very good. today, we're discussing chapter 25 of sense and sensibility by jane austen. in chapter 25, missus jennings invites eleanor and mary anne to london, just completely out of the blue, and eventually, they accept. like sir john, mrs. jennings doesn't like to be alone. so she spends most of the year in the houses of her children and friends, and she goes to london, where she keeps a very nice house in a very nice area, which must be a lot of money just to spend the winter there. yeah. we hadn't heard of missus jennings having a house of her own until chapter 25. we've known her for chapters and chapters, and we didn't even know where she lived. because it doesn't really seem to matter. she just goes around visiting and hanging out with people. parallels between her character and sir john's. they both love society. they both don't mind about the rules as much as other people when it comes to society, so long as everyone's involved and everyone's having a good time. which is

Emma:  a nice characteristic. the trade which made the jennings money taken place in a less elegant part of the town. the jennings have risen in life, so no longer in trade and having a house in a much more elegant part of town.

Frances:  and we later learned that lady middleton is a bit worried about her mother's city friends. city meaning the part of london where people were doing the trade that missus jennings hasn't completely abandoned her old friends just because she lives somewhere else, but lady middleton would have preferred that she had. possibly because lady middleton feels like she's in a precarious situation because her money comes from trade, but now she has a title. anyone who met lady middleton wouldn't know that her money had come from trade. they they certainly wouldn't suspect it the way that she behaves, but potentially it's part of the reason she is the way that she is because she's very aware that her money has come from trade.

Emma:  absolutely. she's social climbing i'm not saying that that's a bad thing, but they've risen in the world, and so she needs to be very careful not to acknowledge where she's come from. if she wants to continue to rise. so it's in her best interests to cultivate friendships with people above her in the social hierarchy and leave behind connections from the trade part of her background.

Frances:  there's a opposite happening. the jennings are rising as the dashboards are falling.

Emma:  absolutely.

Frances:  there doesn't seem to be any animosity between them though.

Emma:  really? i think that eleanor and mary anne definitely looked down their noses at the jennings. i wouldn't call

Emma :  it animosity, but there's certainly a great deal of social awareness.

Frances:  this is one of the things that come up in this chapter, chapter, the reasons for not going.

Emma :  in the previous chapter, lucy had been probing for whether eleanor and mary anne would be going to london because they're a threat to her. and was delighted to hear that they would not be going to london even if john dashwood had invited them, it would not be in eleanor's power to accept an invitation. and she doesn't say why it's not in her power.

Frances:  well, she wouldn't have the money to get to london.

Emma :  that is what i'm thinking. that the travel and also the kinds of dresses you would need for the social occasions, they don't have the money, and they know that john is not gonna offer it to them.

Frances:  no. you can come and stay. i'm being so magnanimous, providing you a place to stay in london. you just have to figure out your own way to get here. he is the type that would do that and be like, i have done my job. how terrible. they cannot get here, but i've done my bit. it's all good.

Emma:  yes. absolutely. he would tell his friends i invited my sisters, and they weren't able to come.

Frances:  missus jennings removes some of

Emma:  the problem of that because they will be traveling with her, and she will pay for the travel. however, the other reason that eleanor does not want to go to london is that she doesn't want to be associated with missus jennings because she's vulgar, and she doesn't want to spend so much time with a person who is talkative, nosy, and dull company.

Frances:  she is not a woman whose society can afford us much pleasure. they both have difficulty spending time with missus jennings, although mary anne is willing to throw it aside. mary anne says if eleanor was frightened away by her dislike of missus jennings, i have no such scruples, and i'm sure i could put up with every unpleasantness of that kind with very little effort. what a bitchy thing to say. i don't like this person, but i wanna use them for my own ends.

Emma:  well, she's just showing a remarkable lack of insight into her own character. as eleanor sees, she actually can't be polite to missus jennings as she's proven again and again. when she's not got respect or love for someone, she is intolerably rude to them. and she's clearly not aware of that in herself, but eleanor was aware of it.

Frances:  and that's why eleanor decides to go. she's like, i cannot leave missus jennings to mary anne. that is not fair. she will be so rude to her. i have to be there to mediate to make sure that someone's actually taking care of missus jennings and possibly to stop mary anne doing ridiculous things. she does say that she thinks well of missus jennings' heart, and she's never said that missus jennings is a bad person. but she is aware that neither of them actually enjoys spending time with missus jennings, and they will be stuck with her. and her protection will not give them consequence. what this means is being seen with missus jennings might actually do bad things for them and damage their reputations because of the way that missus jennings behaves in public, because potentially her money comes from trade and she might hang out with people from the city. and when the dashboards are already in such a precarious situation socially, it could be really bad for them.

Emma:  because

Frances:  it reduces their value in the marriage market. yes. which is the only option the girls have for a job, to have something to live on, is to marry somebody.

Emma :  and of course the other reason eleanor doesn't want to go to london, is it's gonna be torture for her seeing edward and lucy together. i mean, it's gonna be torture for her seeing edward and knowing she can't have him, and knowing that he's going to be unhappy because of lucy's character, and seeing lucy with all of her knowing looks, kind of lording it over her because she's the one who's engaged to edward. what torture to anticipate. it's quite a sacrifice for her to go to london.

Frances:  this is her original thought, but then she remembers that lucy said edward's not gonna be there till february. and eleanor was like, i should be safe. yeah. i won't have to see him. everything will be fine. because that so often works out well. it's very similar to the way that missus palmer invites them to cleveland. just you should come. what? we we haven't talked about this also with missus palmer. they just met her, but they haven't known missus jennings long either. it's it's about three months.

Emma :  that's plenty long enough. they've seen her almost every day.

Frances:  they initially use the excuse that they can't leave their mother at this time of year. it's going into winter. margaret will be there though. although missus dashwood's like, it's great with the middleton's gone. we can do lots of study. margaret will be so improved when you come back because she hadn't been able to do much because they're always having parties.

Emma :  i also think this is actually missus dashwood's first christmas as a widow. yeah. it's pretty reasonable that they might want to be together as a family.

Frances:  it has not been a year since their father passed. i think march will be the year,

Emma:  those kind of big festivals, those times of year like anniversaries especially the first one, those are important times for people who are grieving and they want their loved ones around them. so i i actually think that's a legitimate consideration.

Frances:  what if when mary anne is sick and potentially at death's door at cleveland, it's around the same time her father died.

Emma:  when we get there, we'll check the dates.

Frances:  maybe that was an intentional thing on austin. i mean, austin always does everything intentionally. it's just for us to figure it out. but, yes, i think that might have been march when they're at cleveland, because they're talking about easter. so it'll be march, april. so it'd be very close to when mr. dashwood died.

Emma:  i really like the aspect of the changes that we're seeing in the way mrs jennings is presented and i think it starts here. when she's persuading them to come to london, she says, i thought it would be more comfortable for them to be together because if they got tired of me, they might talk to one another and laugh at my odd ways behind my back. she's inviting them because she wants company for herself, but she's actually really thoughtful about what would be best for her guests separate from what she herself needs. and she has some insight into how she appears to others. that comment about that they might want to laugh at her odd ways behind her back, she is quite self deprecating there. so we start to see her as a more rounded character, not just as vulgar and intrusive. but i think this is the beginning

Emma :  of austin

Emma:  showing us through eleanor, missus jennings' good heart. her character develops throughout the novel from a kind of a two dimensional kind of jolly vulgar person, and we begin with eleanor to appreciate more and more why a good heart matters. and i think this is where it starts. i looked up the phrase, the more the merrier, which missus jennings says, pretty classic attitude for missus jennings to have. it comes from a poem in 1380, so a really old phrase. i think if you were a poet, you'd be pretty happy that i don't know. eight hundred years ago or something. that a phrase from your poem or at least repeated in your poem was still being used. the more the merrier. there was a second part to it. the fewer, the more food at the feast.

Frances:  that one for me. thank you.

Emma:  you want few people more food. yep.

Frances:  missus jennings also tells us that this will be her first time without charlotte. so missus palmer's only recently been married, but probably the last season hence her being pregnant now. missus jennings doesn't wanna be alone. she's got empty nest, and she's gonna fill it with some dashboard girls and then try and push them out of the nest into the arms of eligible young men. i shall speak a good word for you. you don't want that. could you imagine missus jennings to an eligible young man being like, you have to come and meet? my charge is eleanor and mary anne. they are the prettiest girls in the entire world. she's gonna scare guys off.

Emma:  well, do you know? i actually think we should give her some credit. both of her daughters have married well. socially, they've stepped up. i mean, admittedly, they will have had big dowries huge. and also they're pretty, beautiful even. but missus jennings has done well with her daughters. i don't think it's an empty boast that she could,

Emma :  help the dashboards along their way despite their fears that her vulgarity is going to lower the tone.

Frances:  missus dashwood says that the girls should go to town and should is in italics, which austin very, very rarely uses. i would have every young woman of your condition in life acquainted with the manners and amusements of london. the thing that's not laid out here in such a way as it often is in the regency romances we read now. the thing that's not explicitly stated here is that they are going to london for the season. and the season is also known as the marriage mart. so missus jennings is literally offering, she says it here as well, to take them under her charge and get them married off because that is what people went to london for at this time, plus to get away from the cold in the country. but missus dashwood is keen for this and possibly, had she remained mistress of Norland they would have had seasons in london.

Emma:  yes. in fact, it's a little odd, possibly, that they hadn't before. maybe she was waiting for mary anne to be old enough for them to do it together because eleanor's actually a little on the old side.

Frances:  it depends when she came out. you can come out anytime from sixteen, but you might not come out till seventeen, eighteen.

Emma:  but she's 19 now. mhmm. so it is a little odd that she didn't last year.

Frances:  if mary anne is 17, now it probably was going to be the season that they went anyway. but their mother can't go with them because their father has died and they no longer have the money. it would make sense with two girls so closely aged to launch them together, because it's also quite an expensive thing to do.

Emma:  well, they had loads of money, though. oh, actually, did they? when their father inherited norland, it was in a bad state as far as generating no. no. as far as generating excess money so that he could put away dowries for the daughters.

Frances:  although that might have been because he only had a year in there. yes. yeah. exactly. never had to do the saving money before.

Emma:  anyway, for whatever reason, off they go to london for the season.

Frances:  missus dashwood also says you might see your brother.

Emma:  uh-huh.

Frances:  he is your brother, your father's son. so i can't think that badly of him, which they're not really, yeah, that pleased about. edward's brought up again.

Emma:  yes. and so missus dashwood gives a little hint that it wouldn't be a bad idea for eleanor to get acquainted with edward's family. and eleanor decides that now is the time to try and start instilling the idea that perhaps she's not gonna get married to edward after all.

Frances:  missus dashwood smiled and said nothing. mary anne lifted up her eyes in astonishment, and eleanor conjectured that she might as well have held her tongue. neither of them believe her. why do you keep saying this, eleanor? you're so silly, of course you're going to marry edward. we'll just forget all the difficulties in the way. which there are more now that they do not know about. note that the missteals stay at the park until the middletons leave. they keep staying and keep staying as long as they possibly can, which good for them though. they get to spend christmas with the middletons where there's lots of balls and lots of of food. i can imagine when you're kind of living on the edge that you are like, there's a party. we're gonna go and we're gonna eat as much food as we can for the lean months.

Emma :  well, they'd be saving so much money by staying with the middletons.

Frances:  they do have to pay for their transport as the only thing in between places, but otherwise, they are shifting from friend to friend. they don't have a home of their own.

Emma :  they're couch surfing. yeah.

Emma:  there's a great passage when it becomes known that the dashwood girls are going to go to london. that reveals the character of each. so sir john's delighted, uh, for a man whose prevailing anxiety was the dread of being alone. the acquisition of two to the number of inhabitants in london was something. yeah. uh, that's beautiful. like, the population of london is i don't know what at this time, but adding two to it, oh, that was pretty exciting. that tells you so much about sir john again. and even lady middleton took the trouble of being delighted, which was putting herself rather out of her way. and the miss steeles, especially lucy, had never been so happy in their lives. just a couple of sentences that reinforces who each of the characters are. it's just, yeah, beautiful writing.

Frances:  sir john is at least genuine. lady middleton, is she just saying the things she's supposed to? we're not sure. the steeles we know don't actually care. it is descending in sincerity. lady middleton, uh, okay. the steels, we don't care.

Emma:  and there's quite an alarming, degree of, freneticness about marianne's joy, almost a degree beyond happiness. so great was the perturbation of her spirits and her impatience to be gone. that should make you so worried if you are interested in the well-being of mary anne. she's just too excited.

Frances:  she's spinning out of control.

Emma:  it's coming before a fall.

Frances:  she does go completely to excess and saying goodbye to her mother as well. and eleanor's like, we're gonna come back. it's okay. it'll it'll be fine. but echoing again the way that they were when mister dashwood died. though i gotta say, when i went to london, my mom took me to the airport and i hugged her and i cried. and i was like, can i just come home with you?

Emma:  and she said something jolly?

Frances:  no. i don't i don't remember what she said at all. i was only going for two weeks. that's a long way. the risk was if eleanor didn't say yes, mary anne would have gone without her.

Emma:  yes. she would have. that's the strength of her, passion for willoughby. later on we can imagine that the meeting with willoughby without eleanor to cover up mary anne's reaction.

Frances:  i hate to think. i imagine mary anne just would have spent the entire time in london in her bedroom, unless they were going out somewhere.

Emma:  she would have spent her entire time in london draped across willoughby's

Frances:  doorstep. i can picture it. and that's our discussion of chapter 25 of sense and sensibility by jane austen. i'm frances duncan. this has been emma dunning. thank you for listening. we wish you happy reading.