This was my first foray into reading Jane Austen and I absolutely enjoyed it. In some ways, Austen’s Persuasion prefigures the same moral dilemma that more modern authors like Celeste Ng posit in Little Fires Everywhere or Sue Miller in Monogamy. What is the real purpose behind finding a suitable romantic partner? Should it facilitate one’s status, wealth, and position in the world? Or, should it be emotionally satisfying to the parties involved? Can one, or perhaps should one, be willing to sacrifice material possessions, rank, and reputation for love? Of course, this can be a false dichotomy—somewhere out there many have found both money and true love. However, for most people there may be an implicit choice to be made between a) someone for whom you feel undeniable and indescribable compatibility and b) someone for whom you are not truly satisfied with but seems to check the appropriate boxes of social standards.

In this book, we meet Anne, the middle sister in the Elliot household. She is not necessarily comely (as the years have worn away her charms, according to Austen, as she proceeded into her twenties) and she was once in love. This man for whom she madly fell in love was an upstart naval officer with no social prestige or rank in 18th/19th century British society. This Wentworth fellow (no, not of the same stock as the inimitable J. G. Wentworth of late) was persona non grata for Sir Walter Elliot and was loathed by Sir Elliot’s female aide-de-camp that was charged with taking care of his daughters. Anne was persuaded to abandon this foolish relationship with Wentworth and wait for a more suitable match. This is the origins of Jane Austen’s title. For much of the book, Anne is a woman bereaved of companionship and longing for a renewed connection with the now-returned Captain Wentworth who came into considerable fortune during his naval adventures (probably against the French).

But lest you decide that being “persuaded” is wholly negative, consider that Anne is persuaded later in this narrative against marrying Mr. Elliot (her distant cousin) by a close confidant and friend who informs her that said Elliot has ulterior motives upon Sir Elliot’s fortune and land. Thus, Anne is persuaded to make the wrong decision in her early years and then persuaded to make a good decision in her later years. For most people operating in the real world, Anne’s destruction of the relationship with Wentworth in her formative years would be the end all be all of that potential pathway. However, Austen’s romantic impulse here is to eventually redeem Anne to Wentworth in the closing chapters. Austen communicates to her readers that true love, true romance, does not fade into the ether when distance separates the involved parties. Nay, the fires continue to burn bright as ever. Anne and Captain Wentworth are re-established and live happily ever after to the extent that is possible in the sordid conditions of 17th/18th century rural Britain.

In all of this, Jane Austen provides a biting critique of the 18th century British landed gentry, especially their obsession with rank, class, and family lineage. In particular, Austen critiques the logical fallacy that implies someone from a base background also has base morals, whereas someone from a privileged family would also exude strong moral fiber. Finally, Jane Austen illustrates how women in this era were expected to harness their efforts in almost all arenas toward the singular goal of getting married. Virginia Woolf laments in her extended essay, Three Guineas, that women until the 20th century were primarily wielding their influence, interests, hobbies, and intellect in an effort to find suitable marriage. The women who populate Persuasion are primarily concerned with marriage or the lack thereof.