(Chapters 24 – 29)

Oof. I thought things were bleak after last week. Things have only gotten worse for our two sisters.

Elinor and Lucy Steele open up this section. I read an essay a few years ago that referred to Elinor and Lucy as the “original frenemies.” I didn’t see it the first few times I read the book, but I was probably giving too much credit to each woman. Well – I liked Elinor, so I excused her behavior. Lucy, though, I just thought was completely clueless. Telling Elinor everything in true obliviousness. In reality, she was smarter, and more conniving, than I gave her credit for. How could she have missed the “subtle” hints dropped by Mrs. Jennings and Sir John about “Mr. F”? She’s heard Edward speaking highly of Elinor on his visits to London. In fact, this is the reason she gives for telling Elinor about their secret engagement. Yet, in reality, she tells Elinor as a way to stake her claim on Edward, a passive aggressive way to tell Elinor to back off. Elinor fights back with some pretty pointed questions about the length of Lucy and Edward’s engagement and how “pitiable” their situation would be if the “strength of [their] reciprocal attachment had failed.” That got an eyebrow raise from me when I read it. Rather more biting than what we typically see from Elinor, perhaps betraying some of the anger and hurt she is attempting to keep at bay. All of this is said cloaked in kindness, under the guise of camaraderie and sisterhood – real frenemy behavior. Despite the back and forth, and Elinor’s internal dialogue convincing her otherwise, Lucy is the clear winner here. She is engaged to Edward while Elinor is on the outside looking in.

So, when Mrs. Jennings invites Elinor and Marianne to join her on her visit to London, Elinor is not inclined to accept, 1) because she has no desire to see Edward or any of his family, 2) she is concerned about the possibility of a meeting between Marianne and Willoughby and all that may entail, and 3) Mrs. Jennings is intolerably silly. Marianne, however, has completely changed her opinion of Mrs. Jennings as it is via her invitation that Marianne has her big chance to reunite with Willoughby. Elinor is miserable at the loss of Edward and hurt by feeling led on. But she is unable to share any of her struggles, show any of what she is feeling without breaking her vow of secrecy with Lucy. It is in this state that Elinor is overruled by Marianne and their mother, and the sisters depart for London with Mrs. Jennings.

Marianne wastes no time writing to Willoughby to alert him to her presence in town. She waits days with no response. He does come by the house while the women are out, but does not attempt another visit and still does not respond to her letters (she has “double-texted” at this point – a cardinal sin in any time period). Elinor, Marianne, and Willoughby finally stumble into each other at a party. Willoughby avoids the sisters for as long as he can, but after being spotted by Marianne, he’s forced to interact with them. He acts as though he barely knows them, speaking very little and walking away as soon as possible. Marianne is devastated. Once back at Mrs. Jennings townhome, Marianne fires off another letter demanding explanation. Fortunately, or unfortunately, a response from Willoughby is delivered the following morning. “I am much concerned to find there was anything in my behavior last night that did not meet your approbation; and though I am quite at a loss to discover in what point I could be so unfortunate as to offend you, I entreat your forgiveness of what I can assure you to have been perfectly unintentional…if I have been so unfortunate as to give rise to a belief of more than I felt, or meant to express, I shall reproach myself for not having been more guarded in my professions of that esteem.”

As the kids say these days, “Bruh.”

Really?!? You asked her for a lock of her hair! You tried to gift her a horse! You took her to see the estate you are to inherit! Led her to believe she would be the lady of that house! You literally could not have been more obvious in your partiality for her; you were both obnoxious in your display of feelings. And now, you insist your actions were misconstrued??

Elinor and Marianne are, essentially, going through the same thing. Both have been led on by men who will not, or cannot, follow through on the affections displayed. Marianne has been led on more overtly than Elinor, but in both cases, partiality was observed by individuals outside of the involved parties. We saw Edward’s change in temperament in last week’s reading and here we see Willoughby flat out denying what everyone saw.
(I believe we now call that gaslighting.)

I am again struck in these chapters by how timeless the situations Austen writes about truly are. I cannot believe the similarities between Elinor and Marianne’s situations and when this happened to me. And I know others, men and women alike, who have also experienced eerily similar situations… The man (boy?) in my case didn’t use nearly as pretty words as Willoughby wrote, but like Marianne in writing her final letter demanding answers, I literally had to corner this guy to get an explanation. He was acting incredibly like Willoughby; abruptly pulling back on communication and behaving as if he hadn’t spent the preceding months leading me on. And, his response to being called out was exactly what Willoughby’s was, placing the blame on me for “misinterpreting” his words and actions. At my core, I knew that he was painting a very different picture from the truth. Because, again, like Marianne, I had others to back me up when I started to doubt myself. But at the same time, the situation made me question my judgement and perceptions. Which really sucked.

Unlike Marianne, I couldn’t completely fall to pieces. I had to respond as Elinor has. Or, thought I had to respond as Elinor has. Continuing to live and work and move through each day normally, sharing with no one, while also trying to process and keep my true emotions controlled. Healthy? Probably not. There’s got to be a happy medium between totally losing your mind and keeping everything bottled up tight. Elinor is trying to convince Marianne to rein things in a bit when Marianne responds with, “But to appear happy when I am so miserable – Oh! Who can require it?” The statement cuts deep considering this is precisely what Elinor is doing. To be fair to Marianne, had Elinor been more open with her sister, I don’t believe Marianne would have said this. At the same time, this drives home the point that we never truly know what others may be going through. As we read last week, everyone likes to do things in their own way. Just because one reacts without passion, or fails to react at all, doesn’t mean emotions are felt any less.

Additional notes from this week’s reading:

• Colonel Brandon has made a reappearance. He is just as taken with Marianne as before and Marianne is just as disappointed that he is not Willoughby.
• Marianne confirmed to Elinor that she and Willoughby were never engaged.
• At the end of this section, Marianne insists they leave immediately, and Elinor sets off to determine if there is a polite way to do so.