William
Deresiewicz’s essay, “Community and Cognition in Pride and Prejudice”, opens
with a wry look at the mock aphorism given to us by Jane Austen at the start of
her beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a
good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 3). Deresiewicz points out that
“it is immediately
intimated that this “truth universally acknowledged” is in fact nothing more
than one of the fixed opinions of the “neighborhood” of “surrounding families”
amidst which the novel's action is to take place” (503). This observation is
the first of many made by Deresiewicz that point to an extremely strong
community influence on the plot of Pride
and Prejudice, and its heroine, Elizabeth Bennet.
Deresiewicz argues that the community
in Pride and Prejudice is almost
powerful enough to be considered a character – a character whose patterns of
thought are well established and inhospitable to change or outside influence -
and it is this character that shapes Lizzy, and makes possible (or inevitable)
many of her actions. According to Deresiewicz, what Meryton does well is to
gather its members together, and unify them around a single opinion. He asserts
that breaking away from this community brings about not only Lizzy’s new
attitude to Mr. Darcy, but, through their marriage, it also paves the way for a
new community and a new way of thinking for Lizzy, Darcy, and their family and
friends. “Elizabeth is presented not as a typical person, but as a typical
member of her community. She assents to and helps propagate collective
judgments … witty as she is, she risks the same mental gridlock as those around
her” (Deresiewicz 509). Mr.Darcy’s cognitive processes are so different from
Lizzy’s (and the people she grew up with) that communication with him is unlike
what she’s been used to all her life, and this new type of conversation will be
part of what makes their relationship work. Their “ongoing “conversation” will
avert the mental inertia of the novel's first community” (Deresiewicz 529).
Darcy brings to Meryton what Deresiewicz calls “the seed of difference…
a challenge to frozen patterns of thinking and feeling”, without which the
community would “reproduce itself” (526).
Deresiewicz also points out the
importance of what he calls the “density” of the community. Meryton is made up
of a “large group of people
all minding each other's business... Everywhere a member of the community looks,
someone is related to [them] somehow” (515). Deresiewicz argues that Austen uses this
interconnectedness in Pride and Prejudice
as a device for her characters to get to know one another in settings other
than romantic ones, and this allows them to explore feelings of attraction
without having to make any declarations, while building a basis of friendship.
In this sense, the community in Meryton aids in the romantic efforts of its
inhabitants, providing an innocent platform for these relationships to develop.
So, can it be true that Elizabeth
Bennet is not actually what we think? It’s hard to think of her as anything
other than smart, strong and independent. It is Lizzy, after all, who turns
down a proposal of marriage from the cousin who is set to inherit their house,
even though to marry him would have ensured her future security. And it’s Lizzy
who turns down Mr.Darcy – an extremely handsome and wealthy man – because she
is insulted by his manner of proposal. She never lets Caroline Bingley get away
with nettling her, she refuses to grovel to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and she’s
famous for her sharp and witty exchanges with Darcy himself. That’s why, at
first, it’s difficult to accept Deresiewicz’s argument that she is not really
such an independent thinker. However, he does make some convincing
observations.
Consider the verdict on Darcy … that he is a proud man,
“above his company, and above being pleased”. “He was discovered” to be this
way (Austen 10). As Deresiewcz tells us, this opinion is “handed to [Lizzy] by
her community”, and she accepts it (507). The conversation in the Bennet’s
house the day after the first ball reveals a suggestible Lizzy. She hasn’t
really been offended greatly by Darcy, in fact she has been laughing about it,
because she finds his insult “ridiculous” (Austen 11). Not until Charlotte
Lucas remarks that he should not have snubbed her does the whole idea of his
being insufferably proud and arrogant really take root in Lizzy’s mind. A
conversation goes in circles, with the notion of Darcy’s disagreeableness and pride
passing from one speaker to another, until it eventually ends up being spoken
by Lizzy (Austen 18). “Had Austen
simply wished to show her making the judgment herself, either at the moment of
Darcy's snub or afterwards, she could have done so with a great deal less
effort” (Deresiewicz 508).
It’s as if Austen wants us to see how judgments can be made in small
communities, and how something can become “a universal truth” over the course
of a morning conversation. Lizzy
does not appear to be such an independent thinker anymore, when we consider
this conversation and the part her community played in the shaping of her
opinion.
Not until she leaves the confines of
her home village and spends some time away from Meryton, with its “well fixed”
notions and thought processes, does Lizzy finally reach some sort of
independence of thought regarding Mr.Darcy. Without time alone to consider his
letter, Lizzy may never have come to the conclusion that she was wrong about
him. It seems likely that Jane would have nudged her towards forgiveness, so
maybe she would have come around eventually. But based on conversations she has
had with Jane, when she laughs off her opinions or downright rejects them (82),
it’s likely that Lizzy would have done the same thing this time. As Deresiewicz
points out, Lizzy dismisses the opinions of both Jane and Charlotte Lucas,
without altering her own even slightly: “at this point, certain of what she
knows … Elizabeth has stopped questioning herself” (511). In her own words, she knows “exactly what to think” (Austen 82). It can
be easier to continue to oppose something than to consider it, and the stubborn
streak in Lizzy might have made her revelation impossible, under the wrong
circumstances – that is to say, in the company of her own community. Only being
alone, without the opinion of anyone else to think about, does Lizzy have the
freedom to rethink her opinion… (the opinion, as Deresiewicz reminds us, that
has been “handed to her by her community”).
When she does get away and can think alone, Lizzy is obliged
to admit not only that her opinion of Darcy was wrong, but that her opinion of Wickham
was based on nothing but his shallow charm and “the general approbation of the neighborhood” (Austen 197). Seeing Wickham and Darcy for what they
really are marks a new beginning for Lizzy. Having come around to the fact that
Darcy is actually a good person and Wickham is nothing more than a cad, Lizzy
is now no longer in step with the rest of her community. She is now confronted
with contradictions to her own way of thinking. Being wrong is not something
the “good people of Meryton” like to admit – they would much rather engage in a
bit of revisionism if possible, as evidenced by their treatment of Darcy later
on - and Lizzy’s thought processes are more like her friends’ and neighbors’
than she might want to believe. As Deresiewicz notes, the people of Meryton
don’t seem to fix on any solid judgment about anything until they have
discussed and analyzed it among themselves first, as we see at the Bennet’s
house the morning after the first dance (512). Not everyone may agree at the
start, and coming to the generally accepted version requires some delicate and
complex conversational steps. There is room for a certain amount of
disagreement, but not too much. Once a general opinion has been settled upon,
that is the one that is circulated in every drawing room, and every shop doorway.
So Lizzy’s revelation puts her outside
of her community. According to Deresiewicz, it is this removal from the fixed
patterns of thought in Meryton that prepares Lizzy for her acceptance of
Darcy’s completely different way of thinking and communicating. Not being from
Meryton, he is less likely to agree with the community consensus no matter what
it is, and he is less likely to use the same polite detours that Meryton people
use when they don’t agree – he has his own style of communication, direct and
determined. The obstacles that he and Lizzy must overcome in their
communication will be part of what makes their relationship fresh and entertaining.
The characters in Meryton have many
connections to each other, not only are they neighbors, they are also connected
through family, friendship and marriage. This close connectedness causes things
to happen that might otherwise not occur, information is passed, opinions are
formed, and there are consequences. We would not have had much of a plot had it
not been for Charlotte’s father, Sir Lucas, suggesting that Mr.Darcy dance with
Elizabeth at an assembly at the Lucas’s home (Austen 22). Or if the Bennets and
Charlotte had not been close enough to get together the day after the first
ball to discuss and analyze their new neighbors (Austen 18). Nor indeed, if
Lizzy and Wickham had not been able to sit together and talk at length, at
another one of the Meryton gatherings (Austen 73-78). The closeness of this
tight community provides a perfect breeding ground for rumors, gossip, and
circular thinking, but it also allows relationships to develop in a natural
way. Characters can get to know each other as friends. They can find out
whether they actually connect on a cognitive level, rather than just a physical
level. That’s why Darcy and Elizabeth seem like the perfect couple after all.
We know they are attracted to one another physically. And despite the fact that
a lot of her barbs have been directed at him, Darcy obviously enjoys Lizzy’s
sharp wit and intelligence – something he’s been able to experience at first
hand, because of the tight-knit community in Meryton. But it’s not until Lizzy
leaves Meryton and allows her community’s influence to fall away that she can
see Darcy in a truer light, and she can appreciate fully what he has to offer.
Works Cited
Austen,
Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York:
Signet Classics, 2008. Print
Deresiewicz, William. "Community and Cognition in
Pride and Prejudice." ELH 64.2 (1997): 503-535. Project MUSE.
Web. 7 May. 2013.
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