Overgeneralizations

I don't know about many of the other boys (actually, I think I do), but I personally don't really like chick flicks. Unluckily, I can't help but notice that Pride and Prejudice is a perfect example of one.

After rejecting Mr. Collin's marriage proposal, Elizabeth is faced with her next problem. Darcy, who had had an infatuation towards Elizabeth for a long time, finally asks her to marry him. But yet again, Elizabeth denies, unsurprisingly because of her disgust and hatred toward him. Choosing not to give up, Darcy gives her a letter the next day to clarify a few things. In the letter, he does accept that the failure of the relationship between Bingley and Jane was his fault. But then, he tells her one little fact that would change the rest of the novel: Wickham had tried to obtain the love of Darcy's sister, Georgiana, for wealth. I would say that this is the true climax of the whole novel. Elizabeth, who had initially been attracted to Wickham and had thought of Darcy as arrogant, starts to view Wickham differently and develops a sort of pity for Darcy. Somehow, this pity gradually grows into maturity, and Elizabeth decides to reconsider Darcy. Eventually, this reconsideration would turn into love.



I'd say that it's a bit unrealistic that a girl would suddenly start loving someone she used to hate just because of a letter that he had sent. In fact, it's unrealistic in the first place that an arrogant and stubborn guy like Darcy would have given a letter like that face-to-face the day after that same person had rejected his proposal. But then, what would chick flicks be if it weren't for their fanciful romances and improbable love stories. The only thing that this story is missing is Darcy bringing roses every day to Elizabeth. However, I think that the main reason for Austen's writing about all this change in perspective inside Elizabeth's head is to show that first impressions are usually inaccurate and that they do not reflect the heart of the actual person. In other words, prejudice is not a good thing because it only mirrors superficiality. I suppose I agree with Austen, but I don't think it changes much of reality. It is in human nature to make first judgments. Whether someone is more sympathetic than other people or not, first judgments will always affect, at least a little bit, on the attitude that the person has on others. I'd say that it's better for us to try to change our superficiality to match with our inside than to try to change other people to not base their attitudes on first impressions.