Ahh, Austen, You've Done It Again!

Earlier this year I read Pride and Prejudice and really enjoyed it. A few weeks ago I started Mansfield Park. I also own Emma and a Complete Jane Austen book. There is something magical about entering the Austenian world, something reminiscent of a time past, a time without all the baggage we have today. Fresher, leaner, more focused.

To me, I find it hard to imagine how situations Austen writes about could be reality. I do not refer to my actual imagination: her writing successfully allows me to suspend my belief and imagine the "impossible" as possible. No, what I am talking about is the actuality of such social status: all the characters she created sit around in their mansions because they are rich. (That seems so boring.) Everything they want is provided, so even the "adventures" they endeavor on are planned to avoid all risk. It's humorous watching them make a big deal of planning such excursions. 

None of this is familiar to me, so I almost imagine it as a social experiment: what happens when parts of life are stripped away? People are put in a room so researchers can observe how they interact. I get to observe from the comfort of my reading chair. Austen knew a thing or two about human nature, and she artfully plays out telling situations by removing some baggage and simplifying.

Because of this, I picture this lush lifestyle as idyllic. I see a life without the worries of holding a job, schooling, etc. as desirable. In order to highlight human nature, Austen strips away these external issues and sets the story in the romantic setting of the early 19th century. Balls are a common event, with dancing as a microcosm of life. The only worthwhile thing these characters spend their time doing is courting. (Okay, so I oversimplified that: my apologies.) Even I am excited by the romantic nature of it and deem it ideal. 

But I must remind myself that this is not as utopian as it seems. "Wouldn't it be easy for men to take risk in a relationship if they didn't have to worry about all these other things, like financial security and another four years of school? Back then, everyone was more intentional in pursuit and courting towards marriage." But that's not the point. I need to quit making up excuses and realise that I can be a man right where my story is set. My story may not seem as ideal as an Austen story, but I am called to be a man. I cannot expect my life to be free from the "complications" of school and work (man, would that be boring). Because of those complications, I have so many more opportunities to play the man.