Pride and Prejudice, A Gift for All Ages by Akila

Pride and Prejudice, A Gift for All Ages by Akila - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a teenager in possession of good sense must be in want of a book with history, drama and Mr. Darcy.

 I'm sure most, if not all, people should know where this opening line stems from. If not, that's what this essay is for. I'm speaking of the literary masterpiece known as Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen. My belief that this should be required reading for all high schoolers doesn't just stem from the fact that it wasn't for mine. If it was, I would have enjoyed the essays and analyses I begrudgingly handed into my Literature teachers over the years.

Having had the collection of Jane Austen's works in my book case since I was a girl, I never touched them until I turned 17. Never a lover a romance, I was caught unawares and somewhat confused at the beginning of the novel, wondering,"How many daughters did Mr. Bennet have?" "Who is this Lizzy they keep talking about" and "Where was the whirlwind romance I heard proclaimed about for so long?" More than once, did I have to pull out my dictionary for some words like "alacrity" and "propriety." The sheer old-timiness of the novel actually deterred me from finishing it the first time I started. However, armed with my dictionary and thesaurus, I took up the challenge again.

Not to be disappointed, I resonated with Elizabeth, with her resolve, will and intelligence; she never bowed to anyone, facing each opponent and trial as well as she could. So much so that the "last man she could ever be prevailed upon to marry" fell in love with her almost after he had slighted her. 

Now Mr. Darcy.  Oh, Mr. Darcy, I think the most endearing thing to me about his character, was that he was far, far from perfect and once he knew that he was, he set out to change himself for the good. Regardless, I wouldn't have minded a confession of love like that (minus the insult to my family and the fact he loved me against his own will).

Thing I love most about this story, is the fact that while the title is Pride and Prejudice, and everyone always assumes Mr. Darcy is the prideful one and Elizabeth is prejudiced, while true, the opposite also exists. Mr. Darcy was prejudiced against Elizabeth and her family and connections while the latter held such a pride that she held such a rat like Mr. Wickham in such high regard because of his story with Darcy.
The pure irony of it is, in my opinion, amazing and hilarious.

Teenagers, I believe, could really benefit from not only the romance and drama but also the history of the Regency era. I didn't even know what a reel was until I read this book and now I'm only in awe at how the dancers managed to remember all the steps to all of those complicated dances. The vocabulary used in the novel rivals any SAT words, enlarged my own mental thesaurus and gave me enough new words to write a bomb SAT essay (about Pride and prejudice, too. Oh the irony.) Such improvement upon a person vocabulary I find, enables them to read longer and more difficult books, articulate themselves better both while they write and speak. A win-win situation for both teachers and students, where students can write about a novel that is interesting and teachers would get very thoughtful and thought-provoking essays.

Pride and prejudice and all their many adaptations are extremely close to my heart, the Bennet family is my family and I want to see others my age "ardently admire and love" the novel the same way I do. Because we all have a little Elizabeth and a bit of a Mr. Darcy and can be a bit prone to being prideful and prejudiced ourselves.