On the back of the Sense & Sensibility is the quote “Marianne was silent; it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial the occasion; and upon Elinor therefore the whole task of telling lies when politeness required it, always fell.” I can only say that when taken out of context and left to stand alone, as it does above the synopsis of the novel, this quote is entirely misleading.

I went into S&S expecting Elinor to be the more wretched of the two sisters but found that neither her nor Marianne can really be categorized in such a light. I found myself often laughing at how trivial I found their squabbles or, for that matter, their sensibility when it came to the world around them. However, I am forced to conclude that these girls—or women—are a lot stronger than I initially anticipated them to be. After their father’s death to be practically stripped of their wealth, and denied support by their half-brother, is a wholly leveling experience. Yet, they handle it with good nature and without bad temperament

I have come to admire Elinor. There is something sturdy about her, almost geometric. Her nature is even and often very fair but should never to be confused with weakness. I really appreciated Austen’s way of contrasting Marianne’s response to heartbreak with Elinor’s. We are given to understand how similar the sisters are, however, as is so often the case, Marianne is often given the better attributes because she is, by implication, superficially prettier than Elinor. To that note, Elinor is still beautiful, but it is her mind, her voice, and her cunning wisdom that sets her apart from her sister. A apart of me wonders if Austen intentionally wrote Elinor as the stronger of the two sisters so she could face a more wrenching heartbreak? Would Marianne have been able to handle it if she were in Elinor shoes? It is one of the reasons I have become personally invested in Elinor’s character. Invested to the point that when Miss Steele announced that she had been engaged to Edward for four years—four years!—I was outraged for her. I cannot be quite sure if Miss Steele was intentionally rubbing her engagement in Elinor’s face or of she is just that simple. But Edward? I hope she gets her redeeming moment.