31st Annual Student Research Conference
Getting to the Point: Austen's Inclusion of Distance in Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey
Melissa A. Slemp
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
This paper surveys the way Jane Austen relates distance, location, and ability to travel to socioeconomic status and happiness in Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey. It argues that distance from family, friends, and members of a higher social standing, negatively affects one's social status and happiness. Austen uses distance and ability to travel to establish a hierarchy of wealth. Distance is a tool that Austen uses to explain the intimate thoughts of her characters through letters. The paper closes with an examination of Austen's own relationship with travel, and why it is possible that she chose to have characters that she related to travel in similar ways.
Keywords: Pride, Prejudice, Emma, Northanger, Abbey, Distance, Travel, Austen
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 303-1
Location: MG 1096
Time: 1:00