Why the One Percent Must Read (or Re-Read) Austen's "Mansfield Park."

Before I proceed with my opinion, I must give credit to my erudite Tweeter in England, Himadri Chatterjee, for choosing to re-read all of Jane Austen's works and mentioning Mansfield Park (1814). Look out for his analysis via Twitter in the coming weeks.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read Mansfield Park, CONTINUE READING to see what you've missed.

Years have passed since I've read Mansfield Park, but I disagree with naysayers who state that Fanny Price's character is unlikeable. Critics or readers often describe Fanny as too passive or an unworthy heroine. I see her as an observer who, like Austen, watches events as a reporter with sometimes detached objectivity, though she may be experiencing oppression or neglect. That separateness also keeps Fanny from being noticed romantically by her friend and cousin, Edmund Bertram. Also, her lower class status makes her an unfit member of the household as she is reminded again and again by Edmund's siblings. And even the widow, Mrs. Norris, one of Fanny's aunts reluctantly agrees with her sister Lady Bertram, to bring the young girl in and raise her. Mrs. Norris would be labeled today as lower middle class at best. Still, she considers herself above Fanny in social status. Whereas the younger Fanny is affected by her relatives slights, the adult has resigned herself to the outside looking in.

Fanny Price learns to subtly manipulate. Her eventual financial (albeit humble) success is given to her through marriage with Edmund when he recognizes his mistakes. Nonetheless, Fanny brings her younger sister to live at Mansfield Park and sees that her family benefits from her new-found circumstances. She survives. Like her character, Fanny, Jane Austen doesn't judge her protagonist's behavior or fate. Instead she lets her readers decide. I have. Fanny Price has wealthy relations, who for better or worse, brought her to a place where Fanny would have the opportunity to better herself. For much of the story Austen holds us in suspense as to whether Fanny will overcome class boundaries. 

Mansfield Park, as well as Austen's other opuses, continue to stir impassioned reactions. I chose the plural of opus because its plural form can also be written as "opera." Mansfield Park has the ingredients of grand opera: abject poverty, greed, class conflict, death, treachery, jealousy, well you get the idea. However, don't let the allusion to "opera" dissuade you. Jane Austen's deceptive simplicity grasps your attention and the more you read or re-read her works the multiple layers elicit details missed.

Other characters among the throng include Henry and Mary Crawford representing the calculating ambitious social climbers, scraping the edges of the upper class. Being deluded, however, their schemes are uncovered; they are banished as is Mrs. Norris in the climax. When taking an nonjudgmental analysis, the power and freedom the Crawford's long for are squelched by those who have the real control: Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram.

How brilliant Jane Austen is for she captures the crux of social inequity: the inside's inability to look outwards. Sir Thomas Bertram is one of the worst offenders, not only with Fanny, but his plantation in Antigua run by slaves, his empowerment of Lady Bertram's divisiveness which he shares, and his inability to see his son's, Tom's, gambling and drinking as vehicles to escape the stifling Bertram family and Tom's lack of purpose. Sir Thomas initially sacrifices his other son's, Edmund's, aspiration, that is to become a minister (in those days parishes were purchased), because of his older brother's debts. Only when Sir Thomas's crafted world becomes threatened, however, does he bring Tom with him to Antigua. A shrewd move by Jane Austen as it gives Fanny the chance to question Sir Thomas' using slaves, and in my mind, plants a seed of morality in Sir Thomas' closed thinking.


What reads as a picture of the English class system at its worst also underscores the economics of a nation not far from the beginnings of the industrial revolution. Slaves would be replaced by the already existing and increasing child labor force. The working poor would also continue to be suppressed.

So, how does Austen's book, Mansfield Park, reflect Americans, in today's society? The correlation, like Austen herself, is deceptively simple. Having observed the ins and outs in our so-called modern society, I will state: we are quickly becoming a world Austen would recognize. We are a nation with a working poor or suppressed poor without prospects. Our country's populous,all races, creeds, ethnicities is losing momentum. We have a stifled middle class that has become split between those who are resigned to their fate, i.e. no future opportunities to move up the ladder, and those who will do anything to break the one percent barrier.

Why such a bleak, retrograde picture of a once promising American Dream? Because the one percent, who are richer than any of the wealthiest strata in the world, have shuttered their minds, and like Sir Thomas Bertram, will only be stirred when their foundation, the struggling working force, erodes to the point of collapse.

 

MUSIC: THE SLEEPER HAS AWAKENED

Discussing the decrescendo movement wafting through our country’s battered psyches had been my plan for this blog. Then I was stilled. My breathing calmed. My heart stirred. Dark sorrow surfaced and transformed me for I just finished listening to and watching, again, the “Adagietto” from Mahler’s Symphony, No. 5 on YouTube. As performed and recorded for the BBC Proms at Victoria and Albert Hall by the World Orchestra for Peace, in August 5, 2010, the movement pierces the marrow. Valery Gergiev infuses his conducting with his Russian soul, and there are moments when not even the breathing of the audience can be seen or heard.

Gergiev’s technique demonstrated deceptive subtlety, nuance. He roused his musicians with each stirring crescendo; he softened the orchestra during equally powerful decrescendos, with a slight touch of the hand, a firm eye—those were all he needed.

I’ll admit that from the time I passed puberty, I have been aroused by all forms of music with classical being notably forceful. As I grew older I thought I’d put away foolish musical things: sentimental pop, top 40 radio, and Romantic classics. Well, I hadn’t, though I widened my playlist adding eclectic choices such as alternative, jazz, blues, soul, world, neo-classical, and deeper, more pungent lyrics and/or performers.

Then, after several life-changing occurrences, I shuttered my love of music. I can’t pinpoint when I resumed my passion fully, maybe around the time when the bottom fell out from my budget and when faced with health challenges. I returned to listening to my multiple CDs, moving up to downloads from I-Tunes and finally earning an I-Phone (free upgrade) for which I’ve downloaded Pandora© and my digital playlists. In particular, the classical CDs gathering dust, including some from my late father’s collection, returned to the CD-player. And then YouTube caught my interest: it opened my eyes, ears, and emotions.

Being visual has meant that I’ve absorbed meaning more from my eyes than through listening. Sometimes I have to hear a piece multiple times before I appreciate it. I’ve been delighted to retrieve old performances on YouTube and elsewhere on-line, some of which are from thirty or more years ago, of favorite singers, groups, musicians and orchestras. Each music selection has significance, not only nostalgia but reaffirmation that great depth, exquisite beauty underscore the darkness and the light we all encounter in our lives.

I no longer run away from the pain, musically, and hope to continue to open other closed doors which I’ll reveal another day. Suffice it to say, my heart beats faster these days. And whether it be Bill Withers, Jefferson Airplane, Sinead O’Connor, pop divas and other performers (check out my 50 video list on YouTube, under Wendy S. “Favorites”); songs from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, Gustav Mahler or other classical favorites on mainly on CD (list on YouTube under construction), or 60s,70s, 80s, 90s, and current artists on I-Tunes that cover the majority of genres, I have heard what I’ve been missing. I will never be lost again.

WOMEN UNDER THE RADAR: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

If you search the name “Artemisia” on Google, the first reference listed is the naval commander under Xerxes the leader of the Persian Empire who tried to conquer Greece. Hollywood recently captured this woman's exploits in the action/adventure movie, 300: The Rise of the Empire, depicting Artemisia as a bloodthirsty, soulless warrior. Until I saw the publicity for the film and then read the documented history, I had no idea that a woman warrior and general had  played such a significant role in the Battle of Salamis. Sparking my curiosity about other women whose achievements have been overlooked, I recalled another Artemisia.

Caught up in the violence of the Baroque period, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656), the artist born in Florence, had her own battles with the male-dominated academies in sixteenth century Italy. She revered Caravaggio's work, whose technique her father had studied and emulated, and took a strong interest in allegorical subjects from which she often depicted violent scenes, in part, art historians believe due to her being raped by her father's colleague.That horrific event, nonetheless, didn't stop Artemisia, from achieving prominence. Against the odds, she persevered and won the respect of fellow artists and some patrons. Artemisia the seventeenth century painter and Artemisia the Greek who fought for the Persians both overcame patriarchal, brutal societies to follow their passions.

Across the continent and a century after the Baroque period, another woman lived as a mistress among the shadows of France's literary great in the Age of Enlightenment, Voltaire. Her name was Emilie du Chatelet (1706-1749). Even in the freer French circles among intellectuals in France, du Chatelet was initially labeled for her illicit relationship with Voltaire. In time, however, Emilie achieved high praise and the respect of her peers as a physicist and mathematician whose research advanced Issac Newton's Principia Mathematica's principles within a rigid scientific community. Of course, among the contemporary academics in France and elsewhere today, those who study physics, natural philosophy, and advanced mathematics would be familiar with Emilie du Chatelet. But it wasn't until David Bodanis wrote his acclaimed novel, Passionate Minds, did her name regain the recognition she deserved.

Qiu Jin (1875-1907), known in China as the country's first recognized feminist, also achieved notoriety for her refusal to adhere to expected conventions, including not binding her feet, writing about women's rights, encouraging women to work as equals with men, and becoming an advocate for female education, including running a school for girls. She fought alongside her male comrades against the Manchu regime for which she was later executed. A hero in China today, Qiu Jin spirited a cultural movement long before the Western world knew it had existed.

On the shores of America, in North Carolina five years later a baby was born who would later become an innovator and inventor. Mary Beatrice Kenner (1912-?) faced obstacles, besides discrimination and sexism, to create such devices as the sanitary belt and later the bathroom tissue holder. She received multiple patents yet has only marginal mentions on the Web for her achievements.

These women shared unwavering ambitions as they pushed past the hurdles strewn across their paths. And, they have reminded me that from ancient Greece to now, history's chronicles, including our modern media, have barely touched the surface. Most importantly, I hope to one day see worldwide recognition for these women, along with many others who have gone unnoticed. These pioneers' contributions must not remain hidden from public view.