Monday, November 30, 2009
When conversations become awkward...
I've always enjoyed the interchange between Laura and Sophia in Letter 13, when everything Laura says (or does) somehow reminds Sophia of her husband, Augustus! Have you ever experienced a similar situation, when you're trying to comfort somebody and always seem to say the wrong thing?
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I loved that scene, too! Especially when Sophia claimed that Laura's mention of the elm trees reminded her of Augustus. So Laura exasperated, clams up, then Sophia upbraids her for being silent:
ReplyDelete"Why do you not speak my Laura? (said she after a short pause) "I cannot support this silence; you must not leave me to my own reflections; they ever recur to Augustus."
It's pretty awesome that a 14-year-old detected the humor in such a situation. I love how JA always seems simultaneously enchanted with and highly critical of silly female behavior. Elsewhere in this work she mentions the dignity of the sex (I'll have to find the passage) and you then know exactly what she thinks of all this drama and fainting and carrying on with romantic superlatives.