Tumblr crosspost (17 June 2020)
Mar. 16th, 2022 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineIn response to this, tree said:
and once they start genuinely communicating instead of just inferring, they each contribute to the other’s understanding and GROW. it’s not about reaching a fixed point of perfection; it’s about two people allowing each other to influence and be influenced and becoming better people through that influence. people who make each other better are the best people!
I replied:
Yes! That’s why the post-engagement scenes are so important IMO; while there are some things they don’t say, by and large it’s a time when they start taking their little steps past just assuming they know what the other thinks or feels (I think Darcy gets there earlier, but that’s pretty unsurprising), talking openly with each other and giving us a sense of what they’ll be like as a married couple.
And it’s perhaps significant that the incident that sparks their most dramatic changes is the first proposal/letter—in which, however badly they behave, they just straight-out cut past the bullshit and talk about what they really think and what they really understand of what’s happened around them. It’s then that they’re able to really influence each other for the better, and the novel repeatedly holds out the possibility of continued influence on each other.
And yeah, “it’s not about reaching a fixed point of perfection” is a good way of putting it and one that a lot of critics miss.
tree said:and once they start genuinely communicating instead of just inferring, they each contribute to the other’s understanding and GROW. it’s not about reaching a fixed point of perfection; it’s about two people allowing each other to influence and be influenced and becoming better people through that influence. people who make each other better are the best people!
I replied:
Yes! That’s why the post-engagement scenes are so important IMO; while there are some things they don’t say, by and large it’s a time when they start taking their little steps past just assuming they know what the other thinks or feels (I think Darcy gets there earlier, but that’s pretty unsurprising), talking openly with each other and giving us a sense of what they’ll be like as a married couple.
And it’s perhaps significant that the incident that sparks their most dramatic changes is the first proposal/letter—in which, however badly they behave, they just straight-out cut past the bullshit and talk about what they really think and what they really understand of what’s happened around them. It’s then that they’re able to really influence each other for the better, and the novel repeatedly holds out the possibility of continued influence on each other.
And yeah, “it’s not about reaching a fixed point of perfection” is a good way of putting it and one that a lot of critics miss.