Even though she only lived forty-one years and published only six works, Jane Austen was one of the authors the most profound of the 19th century. . Her first published work, written when she was just nineteen, was Sense and Sensibility: a dramatic story about two very different sisters and their journey through life and love. In examining Jane Austen's life, it is evident that her personal life heavily influenced Sense and Sensibility in the context of the Dashwoods, other characters in the novel, the various situations they encounter, and the setting of her story, while being helped by her family. The society of her time helped Austen shape her own view of women as well as her own social commentary which she used in her novels. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay The main characters in Sense and Sensibility, the Dashwood women, resemble many people in Jane Austen's life, and many situations of her characters her face arises from experiences she has had in her own life. For example, her great-grandmother faced a situation not unlike that of Mrs. Dashwood: she was kicked out of her home after the death of her husband by a close relative and was forced to taking on teaching and other odd jobs to support her children. and send them to school: “Having a daughter and six sons to support, Elizabeth appealed to her father-in-law, who promised her £200 before he died. It turned out that his estate was blocked in favor of his eldest grandson. Deprived of even her £200, Elizabeth paid off her debts by selling valuables and a leasehold house, then moved to Seven Oaks to occupy a spacious old house where she boarded and cleaned for the schoolmaster of the high school and some of its students” (Honan 12). This helps to better understand where Austen got her ideas for her writing. Another example of Austen using her environment in her novel is the close and loving relationship between Elinor and Marianne. Austen's older sister, Cassandra, was her anchor and most intimate friend, especially in the early years of her life (Honan 5). Through this, she was able to build a very realistic relationship between the two contrasting Dashwood sisters. In the pattern trend, Marianne's "putrid fever" towards the end of the novel was experienced by Austen, for while attending universities she contracted a disease of the same kind, typhus, and therefore knew what it was like having typhus. illness (Austen 252; Honan 31). Austen, her sister, and her niece Jane Cooper all nearly died, and when the girls returned home, Jane Cooper's mother died from the illness (Honan 31). It was undoubtedly a traumatic event for everyone involved, leading Austen to use it in her work as a romantic tool. This gives readers a chance to interpret the novel in a real way, as Austen intended. Compared to the literature of the time, Austen's works were very real and in tune with the reality of things in terms of society, love and everything else. The way Elinor and Marianne handle their love dilemmas are very different, but they both come from their author's tragic love lives. When Austen was twenty, she met Tom Lefroy, her best friend's nephew. He was charming and Austen could find no fault in him. Everything seemed to be going well until one day he dropped everything and left her in the dust since she didn't have the status that he or hisfamily demanded (Honen 111). This situation is reflected very closely in Sense and Sensibility with the relationship of Edward and Elinor as well as that between Marianne and Willoughby. Although the girls and their relationships are strikingly different, Austen's anguish comes through in both girls' reactions to betrayal and being hurt by the men they love (80). Austen knew love and heartbreak, evident through the vividness of her works, but it is claimed that she never found closure and therefore sought to give all her stories a happy ending ("The Life of Jane Austen "). Jane Austen used other times in her life to create other characters and situations throughout Sense and Sensibility. For example, her best friend, Anne Lefroy, had the emotional range of Marianne and the frankness of Mrs. Jennings: "Mrs. Lefroy was not subtle: she was a dramatic, passionate woman who had a whirlwind effect on almost everything world… His feelings went beyond or pressed the limits of language…” (Honan 80). To continue, her uneducated friend Martha was the perfect mold for the Miss Steeles, who, like Martha, were mostly uneducated but somehow knew how to deal with those of a higher class ( Honen 79). Austen writes of Anne Steele, a character whose story imitates that of Martha: "...her features were pretty, and she had a keen, keen eye, and an elegant air which, although it did not give no real elegance or grace, gave distinction. to his person. Their manners were particularly civil, and Elinor quickly recognized in them a certain sort of common sense…” (Austen 99). Austen used her innate sense of observation, developed from a young age, to evaluate and consequently describe people based on their actions and character, rather than their appearance (Honen 63). This appears several times throughout the novel, even when describing the main characters. When describing Margaret, she briefly covers the shape of her body, the color of her skin, her smile, and her eyes, but even through all of this, Austen is not so much describing Margaret as a physical object, but rather as a character deep, emphasizing his good character. qualities and let her attributes describe and define her rather than her appearance (39). Jane Austen's young life centered around her family and, according to Park Honan, it was there that her personality grew and flourished (89). Her family, both immediate and extended, influenced her characters and stories (Warren). Her idol and closest friend, her sister Cassandra, mastered the art, and Austen emulates this talent in the character of Elinor and gives her sister the recognition her abilities deserved (Honan 37). Her mother was quick-witted and poetic, with a slight sense of humor that Jane eventually inherited and ingrained in her works, from her early burlesque pieces to Sense and Sensibility. On the subject of her siblings, her brother James confided in her at one point, saying he wished he could drop out of Oxford to become a clergyman. However, Mr. Austen was adamant that all of his children be educated (Honan 57). ). In Sense and Sensibility, Edward Ferrars mentions that he and his family could never agree on a profession, because he wanted a simple and quiet life in the clergy rather than law or politics, which for him were the choices of his family, and how he sits now. inactive at Oxford: “We were never able to agree on our choice of profession. I always preferred church, as I still do. But it wasn’t smart enough for my family” (Austen 85). Regarding his family as a whole, the financial situation of hisfamily as the "poor part of the nobility" gave Jane Austen the insight she needed to describe the situation of the women of Dashwood when they were thrown out of their home with little money to live on. , as she lived most of her life with her family having few resources (Honen 92). Alternatively, Austen's family moved to Bath when Jane was a little older, and because of this she was forced to move around a lot and stay in a multitude of different places ("The Life of Jane Austen "). This gave her the experience to write about many different areas, including London, where she visited for a time. Jane Austen was a keen observer and, being shy, often stayed away from parties and balls (Honen 87). Based on her observations of the partygoers compared to how she saw her family at home, she formed opinions about the society she lived in and subtly mocked the injustice and doubles standards that existed in society's views while also fitting into one's own personal beliefs. For example, the theme of money is almost overwhelming in Sense and Sensibility. Society simply revolved around money, and if you wanted to be anything in society, you had to have money, otherwise you were worthless. In his novel, Willoughby leaves Marianne with the late assumption that she had no money and that he had been “forced” to marry a rich woman in order to make a name for himself (Austen 268). Willoughby's wife, Miss Grey, is quite the catch in the rumored novel, although she is upset at being used for his money and she knows full well that Willoughby does not love her; only his money (Austen 270). Regarding Willoughby, his slightly promiscuous and deceptive nature stems from Jane's strange affair with adultery and sexual infidelity, which is linked to society in that she was collectively always searching for something about what to gossip about, and adultery could taint or even ruin someone's reputation. (Honen 164). Austen also saw the absurdity of what the upper classes did in their free time: women sewed, played instruments, or chatted while men hunted; that was all they seemed to do. Jane Austen used this to her advantage in her books as a mockery and catalyst for intrigue ("The Life of Jane Austen"). The lower nobility did not have the freedom to choose extensive employment at this time, even men. This was highlighted by Edward's comment about his own non-existent career (Austen 85). Austen showed how society created anxiety in some with Elinor's heartbreaking situation with Lucy Steele where she was forced to keep face and keep her grief inside because of a promise that she had done because it was appropriate to do so (Austen 151). In a moral sense, Jane Austen was firmly grounded in what she believed. His strong faith in God allowed his fun side to embellish the comic parts of his writing while giving all his pieces a nuance of unconditional confidence (Honan 275). Instead of obsessing over her characters' appearance and dress, Austen prefers to develop how they were as a person (39). With this, she also showed how different personality types are not bad. In fact, through Marianne and Elinor, she demonstrated how the girls worked together and that their differences in thought and perception helped them love each other (Honen 277). This shows Austen's own character and that the way she thought and wrote was not influenced by what the world thought,.