Pride and Prejudice and the modern-day analogy

This'll be it. Then you won't hear from me for awhile. Promis. (I thought you Mayka might be interested, especially)

You may be wondering why I am spending time writing a note on Facebook when I have so much more to do; when there is a ten-hour project due on Wednesday and I have only spent two hours on it or I have 1/3 of my final on Thursday in Arabic and I have yet to study for it. Well, my annoyance towards the modern-day dating scheme and my interest in analyzing Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" has led me to compose a small analysis of the two and why Jane Austen "nailed" the problem with dating.

I hear consistently that women are looking for the "Mr. Darcy" of their dreams. The composed, kind-hearted, handsome and mature man that they want to marry (never mind the fact that he is wealthier than anyone they've ever known). But why is it the case, then, that instead of falling for the Mr. Darcys, it is the Mr. Wickhams that entertain them the most. Even Elizabeth, the assumed protagonist and level-headed of the group fell for the slick, charming man-in-uniform and took his word immediately over Mr. Darcy, simply because he was the first to complain about his problems. His future is worthless (not b/c of his affiliation with the military, but just because the dude's got no life skills), his worthiness questionable, and any attempt to hold a meaningful conversation is halted by his inability to read and instead he uses his God-given gift of charm and persuasion to get him out of the awkward predicaments.
Now thank heavens, Elizabeth was able to get out of it as quick as she could. Her prejudice against the more subtle, behind-the-scenes Mr. Darcy could have led her to regret everything she said and did, and instead the super-annoying Lydia got what she wished: marriage and a lifetime of superficial conversation about her hair, his apparent good looks and (I mean, like, oh my gosh!), the gossip of the neighborhood. But this does lead me to another side of the story.

Jane Austen understood that both sexes have their faults. Though Mr. Darcy eventually fell in the love with the protagonist, his open pride and arrogance led him to believe Elizabeth below him IN LOOKS. Until he had the opportunity to speak with her, he was not in the least bit attracted to Elizabeth, which was indeed unfortunate. Which lead to the supposed problem with the males. Why is it that it is the Lydias of the world that men are attracted to, when their looks only go for the first couple "chapters of life" before you just get very (and I mean VERY) annoyed with them, and can't stand their ignorance, narrow-mindedness and immense amount of short-comings in their personality? Though men may idealy want the Elizabeths, it is the Lydias, the educational and moral inferiors that they tend to go for. I mean who wants to date, marry or even know a girl that can actually challenge you in how you think, right? I mean, heaven forbid that there might be an accomplished woman sharing discussion with you! Whose life isn't to get married but to live a full and intellectual enlightening life, whether she is or isn't married. Though the story ends before we get to see Mr. Wickham leave Lydia for another girl and despite all this still hearing Lydia brag about her being the first one to be married off, we do get to see Mr. and Mrs. Bennet; a classic example of a good man who really screwed himself over.

It is no wonder that Jane Austen never married. I might just follow her path, seeing as how things are going. Dating life is too damn complicated. I love Elder Oaks to death and writing this will no doubt keep me out of becoming a GA (too bad!), but to say a date is no big deal is about as valid as some church doctrine taught in Latin American Sunday schools. What you do, what you say, how you say it; whether or not you cleared your throat at the improper time...for some unknown reason, all of these things seem to say things that the doer never meant to say or even imply. I abide by what Hitch said in the movie, that you can't just go up to some girl and say, "I like you". You have to jump through tricks worse than what you see on the SAW movies (though I've never seen them) in order to send some sort of distorted, half-truth of a message implying that you "might be interested". For this reason, Jane Austen is my hero; that she was able to grasp this idea and write about the ridiculousness of it all.
But anyway, now that I have that off my chest, I can start studying. Have a good one.

Trevor Tustison

(By the way, in no way is this an official paper. I just wrote it fairly quickly, so any grammatical errors or anything is just a victim of the quickness in which I wrote it.)