Journaling with Jane Day 6: Persuasion
Welcome to Day 6 of Journaling with Jane. Today we look at Persuasion, the last of Jane's full length published novels and (in our opinion) one of the most romantic. Today we will be celebrating love in all it's forms.Persuasion published alongside Northanger Abbey, six months after Jane’s death is a novel of the endurance of love and the depth of feelings. In this, Austen’s most moving novel, our Anne Elliot falls in love with and becomes engaged to Captain Wentworth. But he isn’t rich enough for her family, and she, moved by love and duty for them, is persuaded to give him up. Eight long years later he returns…
Today we’ll be taking love in all it’s forms as our theme.
If you would like here are some further prompts:
- Do you meet love with tears or smiles?
- There are many different forms of love – which have you felt most recently?
- When have you felt the strongest pull of love?
- What is constancy in love?
Persuasion explores Anne Elliot’s constancy, but also subtle questions how different her life would have been had she married Captain Wentworth
For a further Romantic-era prompt, inspired by Northanger Abbey, we suggest:
- When is it right to take a risk?
- What makes the risk too great?
Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published together in one volume after Jane’s death