The Societies of Twain and Austen

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that society's conventions, at the time Jane Austen and Mark Twain were writing, caused the characters to perform as they did in their respective novels "Pride and Prejudice" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". The author points out that Twain seems to be showing the reader that wealth does not matter as much as a sense of right and wrong; whereas, Austen's characters are consumed with what is right and wrong but are basing it mostly on appearances or appearances of wealth. The paper relates that Austen portrays Darcy as being an arrogant individual but this arrogance does not seem to bother Elizabeth in the least; however, Twain says the exact opposite is true when he shows the humility of Huck, who understands that he was wrong to fool Jim into believing that the night's happenings had all been a dream.

From the Paper:

"No longer does society (in most cases) look to see what job, what career, what income level or what economic status does the male live, instead what is happening in today's world is that women are more often employed in the workforce, and instead of the marriage being a source of stableness for the female, based on the man, cohabitation can now be shown as a more competitive environment than was heretofore shown. Studies seem to conclude that the relationships between men and women were much more likely to become a 'marriage' between the two if the man was already gainfully employed or a 'man of means'."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Austen, J. (1984) Pride and Prejudice, Leicestershire, Great Britian: F.A. Thorpe (Publishing) Ltd.
• Twain, M. (1981) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, New York: Bantam Dell

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