Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… with her immediate family in the English countryside. Jane’s father is a reverend, and the family lives a relatively impoverished existence despite their genteel connections.
Visiting… the nearby manor of Lady Gresham, a wealthy woman whose nephew is enamored with Jane. Lady Gresham is not particularly fond of Jane, but she wants her nephew to be happy.
Interests… writing, cricket, and nature. When Jane is not spending time with her family, she can either be found writing by a window in her bedroom or walking through the beautiful countryside.
Relationship Status… single, much to her family’s disappointment. She’s just met a man named Thomas Lefroy who certainly isn’t like anyone else she’s come across.
Challenge… becoming a writer, despite the stigma attached to women writers at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It doesn’t help that Jane has no way to support herself and refuses to marry unless she finds true love.
Personality… idealistic, loving, and intelligent. Jane’s independence strikes those around her as odd, but she is always polite, compassionate, and nurturing toward her loved ones. She dreams of romance and success, and refuses to allow society or her family tell her she must settle for less.
Get to Know her in...
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Becoming Jane is a biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.
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Jon Spence's fascinating biography of Jane Austen paints an intimate portrait of the much-loved novelist. Spence's meticulous research has, perhaps most notably, uncovered evidence that Austen and the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy fell in love at the age of twenty and that the relationship inspired Pride and Prejudice, one of the most celebrated works of fiction ever written. Becoming Jane Austen gives the fullest account we have of the romance, which was more serious and more enduring than previously believed. Seeing this love story in the context of Jane Austen's whole life enables us to appreciate the profound effect the relationship had on her art and on subsequent choices that she made in her life. Full of insight and with an attentive eye for detail, Spence explores Jane Austen's emotional attachments and the personal influences that shaped her as a novelist. His elegant narrative provides a point of entry into Jane Austen's world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in Becoming Jane Austen, Austen herself is the heroine.
