Looking for Prejudice

When I picked up the book “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, I was mainly thinking ‘How am I going to deal with suffering through this?’, but, without my knowing it, my subconscious was thinking that one main character would have a problem with being too prideful while the other would be extremely prejudiced. I spent a lot of the time I was reading looking for signs of pride and prejudice in Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Darcy’s characters.

 I could clearly see where the pride came into play on many occasions throughout the story on both Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett’s point of view. Mrs. Bennett was constantly going on about how Mr. Darcy was full of himself and full of pride. But, in Mr. Darcy’s defense, Mrs. Bennett’s pride caused her to be offended by all of Mr. Darcy’s actions. In my opinion, her pride also blinded her from all points of view when Lydia ran away with Mr. Wickham. It seemed as if she was worried more so about the family name than she was the wellbeing of her sister. But I found it harder to pick out the signs of prejudice. It was definitely illustrated by Mr. Darcy, Lady Catherine, and Mr. Bingley’s sister by their abhorrence toward the poorer lifestyle. But, aside from this, I found no other major signs of prejudice on any characters part.

I also noticed that I could relate to Mr. Darcy because he was quiet. Because of this he was considered self centered and prideful, but sometimes, he was just shy and didn’t know how to act in the situations he was put in. At times, everyone feels uncomfortable in the situation they are in and everyone reacts in a different way. Mr. Darcy, very much like me, was just shy.

During the reading of "Pride and Prejudice" it bothered me that I couldn't find as many signs of prejudice as I could pride. Nonetheless,“Pride and Prejudice” describes a society that, aside from clothing, is very much like our own. Every human has some form of pride and whether it is voiced or not, they feel hurt when they are insulted. Like Mr. Darcy, most people have some sort of situation that they feel uncomfortable in. And like the five Bennett sisters, in most people’s minds, wealth, a good husband, and the family name, play a large roll, making “Pride and Prejudice” very relatable, even though we live many years ahead of the time she wrote it.