Pride and Prejudice
Christopher C. Thomas
Evaluation: 1
Christopher Thomas
Mrs. Dearman
English 4th
12 November 2013
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen about a girl named Elizabeth Bennet and her conflicts with her family, friends, and one Mr. Darcy, the man who she despises but ends up falling in love with and marrying. This is a great novel for high schoolers to read because it teaches you not to judge people by first impressions. Elizabeth judged Darcy without even having a full conversation with the man and it affected her opinion of him which made her to believe things that weren’t true, but after she started to get to know him she realized she was wrong about Darcy and they end up getting married. This book also teaches you the consequences of being prideful and shows you that just because you are born wealthier than someone else doesn’t mean they are beneath you, you may actually get along or fall in love with them for Darcy was too proud to show his feelings for Elizabeth but over time overcame the fact they were from different classes and he proposed. There are so many different lessons in this book that it makes it a great story to read when you are in school so maybe you can apply those lessons to your own life at some point. Pride and Prejudice is a good book but it is hard to read for some students, preferably males. Majority of this book is about the characters feelings and playing cat and mouse with each other and if you read the whole thing some readers might get bored and can’t finish. I think a good idea to help students finish this book is have them read a summary over the whole book, so they can see that it does get really interesting instead of thinking it’s just girls talking about boys and they end up not reading it at all. Students then may actually read the book and may understand it better sense they already know what’s happening.
Creative Writing
Christopher Thomas
Mrs. Dearman
English 4th
12 November 2013
Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth was surprised to hear the doorbell ring this late at night, followed by Mr. Darcy hurrying into her the room. Elizabeth was astonished Darcy came to see her this late. Darcy quickly asked her how she was doing and following it up afterwards answering he wished she were better. He then sat down; just for a few seconds then he got up and walked about the room. Elizabeth was surprised, but didn’t say anything. After a few minutes of awkward silence he came near her and told her;
"I’ve tried to suppress my feelings for you and not to think of you, but I can’t… love you. Even though my family is much richer than yours, I want you, will you marry me?"
Elizabeth was amazed and just stood there in silence. For a second she felt bad for what she was about to do to him, but she quickly shifted from sorrow to anger. She tried, however, to answer him with patience and kindness.
"In instances as this it’s kind to show gratitude and thank you for the offer, but my feelings are not the same, sense you didn’t want to like me in the first place it should be easier for you to accept my answer."
Mr. Darcy was surprised by the answer he received, his face turned pale with anger and he forced himself to reply in a calm manner.
"And this is all you have to say? May I at least know why you are turning down my proposal?"
"I might as well ask," Elizabeth replied, "Why you choose to ask me in such a way that insults and offends, me saying you like me against your better judgment. Was this proposal just a way for you to be make fun of me or are you just rude person? But I have other reasons. Even if I did like you why would I marry a man who destroyed the happiness of my sister?”
Darcy changed color at the sound of those words, but remained silent and tried not to interrupt her.
"I have every reason not to like you! Why, Mr. Darcy, did you break up two people who truly liked each other?”
She paused and looked at him and saw he had no change in emotion but just stood there glared right back at her.
"Can you deny that you have done it?" she repeated.
Darcy the replied "I do not deny that I broke your sister and my friend apart, I do not regret it either, I have been kinder to him than I have myself."
"But it is not just this," she continued, "that my hatred for you is based on; long before then I heard what you did to Mr. Wickham. What’s your act of friendship are you going to base this excuse on, for what you did to him!?”
"What makes you so interested in that man’s life!" said Darcy in a slightly heightened mood.
"Anyone who knows the misfortunes he’s had is interested in him."
"His misfortunes!" repeated Darcy scornfully; "yes, his misfortunes have been terrible indeed"
"And it’s all because of you!" cried Elizabeth angrily. "You have brought him to poverty as he misses out on the best years of his life because of you! And then you speak about his misfortunes as if they are his fault!”
"And this," cried Darcy, as he walked with quick steps across the room, "this is how you think of me, yes by these accounts I am a bad man But perhaps," He stopped, walked over the Elizabeth and continued, "these wrong doings might have been overlooked, if you weren’t so proud! Maybe if I were polite and courteous, complementing you all the time and kissing up to you. Do you Elizabeth, expect me to be happy if I were to marry someone in life whose conditions are so beneath my own?”
Elizabeth felt herself growing angrier by the second but she tried her hardest to maintain calm.
"You are wrong Mr. Darcy if you thought I would have feel bad for you after I turn you down, maybe I would have felt some sorrow if you would have acted like a gentleman!” She noticed he started to say something but decided to let her continue
"There was no way you could have asked me to marry you that would have even tempted me to accept”
Again Darcy looked at her with amazement at what she had just said to him as she went on:
"From the first moment I met you, you were arrogant and refused to socialize with anyone around you, you just looked down on everyone around you. I hardly knew you for a month and I already knew that out of all the men in the world you’d be the last of them I would ever marry!
"You have said enough Elizabeth, I know how you feel about me and now I only have to be ashamed for how I’ve acted. Please forgive me for wasting your time and hope you have a nice night.”
And then he turned and rushed out of the room and she heard the door slam as he left the house.