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Tumblr crosspost (3 December 2020)
An anon said:
Darcy loving the Gardiners and becoming BFFs with them is one of the best and most underrated aspects of P&P. I'd love to see a fic where they visit Meryton before the ball and Elizabeth's shocked that Darcy actually gets along with them, once he realises they're nothing like Mrs B.
I replied:
It really is one of my favorite parts, and where I see the most actual change in Darcy’s beliefs. And that very fic concept has rolled around in my head for YEARS.
I think Darcy would be slower to warm to them than in canon because of his preconceptions at that point, but that he pretty consistently is able to adjust his initial opinions of people to account for new data. He doesn’t question the underlying worldview until really shocked out of it, but he can adapt on an individual basis—as with his friendship with Bingley, say. He’s certainly perceptive enough to see that the Gardiners are very different from Mrs Bennet, and I think could make a mental ‘adjustment’ there; they’re special, like Bingley.
Alternately, it’s possible that their profound difference from his assumptions about what they’d be like could startle him enough that it begins the (in the AU) gradual process of him reconsidering his basic preconceptions and not just his application of those preconceptions to particular people. I think which happens would depend on the strength of his impression of them and the course of their relationship and so forth, but either could happen.
Either way, I do agree that he would soon come away with a positive impression of them and conduct himself agreeably enough towards them, which I also agree would be pretty !!?!???!? to Elizabeth in itself. On top of that, the stark contrast between his behavior towards the Gardiners and e.g. Mr and Mrs Bennet would make it clear that some level of personal disapproval is at work there, not just general elitism, which is harder to take (as we see in her response to the letter, his opinion of them does trouble her—I think in part because she fundamentally agrees with it and has tried not to think about it). And I don’t think Darcy at that point (maybe any point) would be inclined to hide his preference for the Gardiners, so it would just be very apparent and strain her assumptions about him.
Whether that would extend to straining her general reliance on assumptions about people, once she’s realized that she wasn’t quite right about him, is a more complicated matter, as with the “Alternately…” for Darcy above. But it’s possible that this all results in slower and less painful but no less profound epiphanies for both.
I’ve thought of both very specific and general scenarios for all this, so … maybe someday I’ll get to one of them.
Tagged: #i didn't get into what the gardiners think of him and wickham in the au #or how wickham figures at all #but that's also part of it in my head
Darcy loving the Gardiners and becoming BFFs with them is one of the best and most underrated aspects of P&P. I'd love to see a fic where they visit Meryton before the ball and Elizabeth's shocked that Darcy actually gets along with them, once he realises they're nothing like Mrs B.
I replied:
It really is one of my favorite parts, and where I see the most actual change in Darcy’s beliefs. And that very fic concept has rolled around in my head for YEARS.
I think Darcy would be slower to warm to them than in canon because of his preconceptions at that point, but that he pretty consistently is able to adjust his initial opinions of people to account for new data. He doesn’t question the underlying worldview until really shocked out of it, but he can adapt on an individual basis—as with his friendship with Bingley, say. He’s certainly perceptive enough to see that the Gardiners are very different from Mrs Bennet, and I think could make a mental ‘adjustment’ there; they’re special, like Bingley.
Alternately, it’s possible that their profound difference from his assumptions about what they’d be like could startle him enough that it begins the (in the AU) gradual process of him reconsidering his basic preconceptions and not just his application of those preconceptions to particular people. I think which happens would depend on the strength of his impression of them and the course of their relationship and so forth, but either could happen.
Either way, I do agree that he would soon come away with a positive impression of them and conduct himself agreeably enough towards them, which I also agree would be pretty !!?!???!? to Elizabeth in itself. On top of that, the stark contrast between his behavior towards the Gardiners and e.g. Mr and Mrs Bennet would make it clear that some level of personal disapproval is at work there, not just general elitism, which is harder to take (as we see in her response to the letter, his opinion of them does trouble her—I think in part because she fundamentally agrees with it and has tried not to think about it). And I don’t think Darcy at that point (maybe any point) would be inclined to hide his preference for the Gardiners, so it would just be very apparent and strain her assumptions about him.
Whether that would extend to straining her general reliance on assumptions about people, once she’s realized that she wasn’t quite right about him, is a more complicated matter, as with the “Alternately…” for Darcy above. But it’s possible that this all results in slower and less painful but no less profound epiphanies for both.
I’ve thought of both very specific and general scenarios for all this, so … maybe someday I’ll get to one of them.
Tagged: #i didn't get into what the gardiners think of him and wickham in the au #or how wickham figures at all #but that's also part of it in my head