Reliving the Victorian period of Pride and Prejudice

by Ojasvi Jain, XI-B

On 13 April, 2013, 17 students of classes X and XI, in zeal, anticipation and enthusiasm accompanied by Navreet Maam, set off on an enriching outing to the India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, to participate in an event organized to celebrate 200 years of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice. We left School at 8.55 am and reached our destination quickly. The timings for the session were 9.30 am to 11.30 am and we were the first ones to report !

Pride and Prejudice has interested me for a very long time. I am a sensitive girl who really likes reading romance. Moreover, I had acted as Elizabeth in a class play, so I was really excited to be attending this session and hoped to make the most of it. The organizers had wisely chosen the ' cool and happening' Party Zone of Eatopia, as the venue to conduct the readings and discussion. There were around 30 students and 3 teachers present. Ms. Sanam Khanna, English Lecturer a Kamla Nehru College, conducted an interactive session with us on our impression and understanding of Pride and Prejudice. She set the tone for the morning by asking us to write 3 things that we remembered about the novel. Thereafter, she shared with us some interesting information on Jane Austen.

Jane Austen was a young writer. She was not formally educated, infact, she was self- tutored. She wrote this novel when she was only 21 years old. Her writing reflects her views on marriage and romance during the Victorian period, which is the period of the novel. She was unmarried and lived with her mother and sister, writing between household chores. These interruptions, rather than causing distraction, provided her with new ideas for her writing, much to my astonishment! We learnt that the novel was earlier called First Impression and was later renamed. It was released on 28 January, 1813. It's 100th anniversary in 1913 was subdued because of World War I. However it's 200th in 2013 is being widely celebrated around the globe. A powerpoint presentation on Pride and Prejudice was also shown to us.

Ms. Sanam asked a few students to read out some memorable extracts from the book. The very first sentence of the novel It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, prepares the readers for what is to come. It highlights the theme of the novel in humour, marriage and courtship, the plot of the novel Whether Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel or a practical one- this question remains unanswered. It also defines Austens book as a quintessential work of the 18th century. We also absorbed insight on the lives of women in the Victorian period. This novel is a satire on Victorian society, in which girls generally wanted rich husbands.

It was explained to us that this novel is much more than a romance. It is about relationships, friendships and compatibility. It is about discovering ones strengths and weaknesses. There are 7 types of marriages depicted in this novel. We were asked to pair the couples in the book with alternate characters and imagine the outcome! This was most interesting. All of us had fun pairing odd couples and imagining the outcome of say, marriage between Jane and Mr. Darcy!

We were told that Austen spoke through Elizabeths character, mocking each character. Thus, on one hand , we have an ideal relationship based on love and on the other hand, we have a marriage based on appearances and youthful vivacity. The first is everlasting and the second slowly fades away.

This healthy interactive session was accompanied by readings of some important and fascinating parts of the novel, which were passionately read by some of us-Lizza, Parth, Anish, Snigdha and a couple of students from other schools.We really enjoyed this session and gathered much information and feel of the Victorian period.

All good things come to an end and so did this programme, concluded at 11.45 am with tea and a snack. By 12.10 pm we were back at School, carrying in our hearts an essence of Victorian England. The experience is truly treasured. I hope I will be able to share it with everyone by with this report.