Pride and Prejudice - Summary

Summary of Pride and Prejudice

The novel Pride and Prejudice is written by Jane Austen and was first published in 1813. The plot deals with the Bennet family in Hartfordshire, England, during late 18^th century. Mr. Bennet is an English gentleman living with his overbearing wife and five daughters. Mrs. Bennet is frantically prosaic obsessed over marrying off her daughters as quickly and advantageously as possible. This due to the Bennet family doesn’t from an upper class and if Mr. Bennet dies, their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they’ve never met. Therefore their family’s future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s daughters consist of the beautiful and dutiful Jane, the quick-witted Elisabeth, the bookish Mary, the immature Kitty and the wild Lydia.

          Most of the action in the novel centers on the two eldest Bennet sisters: Jane and Elizabeth. Those girls lives are turned upside down when a wealthy young gentleman called Mr. Bingley and his best friend, the dashing, but proud Mr. Darcy arrive in their neighborhood to spend their summer in a mansion nearby the Bennet’ property. Jane falls in love with Mr. Bingley, while Elizabeth finds Mr. Darcy as a snobbish and proud man and whom she swears to loathe forever. It’s particularly Elizabeth and Darcy that drive the plot through a combination of their total inability to get together, due to their common low opinions of one another – or at least the belief that the other part has a low opinion of them. With their relationship, hasty prejudgment and a battle of the sexes are introduced.  But soon, love is in the air also for these two and finally after many trials and tribulations that stand between the Bennet sisters and their happiness, including class, gossip and scandal, the novel ends with two marriages on the same day.

         

// Rebecka Belge

Bridget Jones's Diary

1 Quotes


Hello! My third and last text. ENJOY!

I’ve collected 3 quotes that I think in somehow symbolize the book.

“8st 12 (weight loss through use of stairs), alcohol units 0 (excellent), cigarettes 5 (excellent), calories 2452 (not v.g.), times gone down stairs to check for Valentine-type envelope 18 (bad psychologically but v.g. exercise-wise).” p.51

This quote shows how Bridget starts writing every day. Bridget often thinks about her weight and always counts the calories she swallows. She wants to stop drinking so much and she wants to get rid of the stupid cigarettes. Therefore she keeps on counting her weight, calories, alcohol units and cigarettes throughout the whole book. Special for this day is that she also counts Valentine-type envelopes, which also is a typical Bridget-thing to do. She wants someone to care about her, and through a card she thinks she will be satisfied. I simply chose this quotation because it emblemizes who Bridget Jones is.

“Sharon was on top form. ’Bastards!’, she was already yelling by 8.35, pouring three-quarters of a glass of Kir Royale straight down her throat. ’Stupid, smug, arrogant, manipulative, self-indulgent bastard’” p.125

Sharon, who is Bridget’s friend, is just like Bridget: Blaming the man when something in a relationship is wrong. The reason Bridget is single is not herself, it’s all the stupid bastards fault. At least when they talk to each other. When Bridget is home alone in her flat, she always has thoughts like: What is wrong with me? Why doesn’t anybody want me? This is a thoroughgoing attitude in the book.

“I’m falling apart. My boyfriend is sleeping with a bronzed giantess. My mother is sleeping with a Portuguese. Jeremy is sleeping with a horrible trollop, Prince Charles is sleeping with Camilla Parker-Bowles.” p.181

I chose this quotation to show how Helen Fielding deals with the language and humour in the book. As you see she mentions small details: “bronzed giantess”, “Portuguese” and “horrible trollop”. You would have been able to read the book without these tiny details, but in my opinion these phrases make the book hilarious. The details make the seriousness less serious, the details make the book funny and entertaining. It’s the language that makes the book a comedy and not a drama. Good work Helen Fielding!


By: Josefine Säleby

Bridget Jones's Diary

4 Who should read the book? Who shouldn’t?

Hi guys! I hope you liked my poem. Now it’s time for another brilliant text for you to read. And as always, enjoy!

So guys, this is a book for you who like humour, irony and to laugh. Bridget Jones’s diary is a comedy which jokes about the fact that you’re supposed to live your life in a special way. The first-school-then-career-then-marriage-then-children-then-pension-kind-of-way. You must be able to take things with a pinch of salt if you want to read this book since it makes fun of many of our general thoughts and opinions. Even though the book mainly describes single female woes, I think both single people, people in relationships, females and males can read it. It’s entertaining for everyone!    

If you are the kind of person that prefers to read serious books about dramatic relationships, about the school development in England or about how aquatic animals find their nourishment this is not a book for you. Also if you hate humour, irony and to laugh it would be better if you read another book. And of course, if you can’t take things with a pinch of salt you shouldn’t read it. Why? Since “Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a COMEDY. Another reason you shouldn’t read it is if you are to young. As a whole the language is pretty easy to understand but there are some difficult words. The book also treats a 30-year-old woman’s weekday and that maybe doesn’t suit too young people.

Since I’m a person who enjoy laughing, I really liked this book. Read it if you want to change your homework into an entertaining comedy!


By: Josefine Säleby

Bridget Jones's Diary

2 Poem

Hi everybody! Here comes my first contribution to this very interesting blog. My book is “Bridget Jones’s diary” written by Helen Fielding and since I absolutely love poems, I’ve chosen to write one about Ms. Jones’s feelings. Enjoy!


I constantly feel like I am a miserable girl,
The saddest single in the hole wide world. 
Just sitting here alone in my untidy flat,
Eating Milk Trays until I get tremendously fat.
Men only want a nice fuckwittage Jude claims,
Maybe I should have more realistic aims.

People always wonder why I am not yet anyone’s wife,
Like marrying is the most important mission in life.
Shut the fuck up and mind your own business I wanna scream,
Instead I stay calm and cold like an exquisite ice-cream.
Of course I want a man, of course I want somebody to care,
But right now my love life is nothing but a terrible nightmare.

I have lovely and caring friends but that is not enough,
To live without a sexy husband can be really tough.
I don’t like waking up all alone in my to big bed,
Would rather put a crazy tattoo on my forehead.
Also to arrive to elegant parties with no one by my side,
Makes me feel heartbroken and it’s difficult my tears to hide.

Tough everything sometimes feels exceptionally sad,
I always focus on my fabulous dreams that make me glad.
Dreams about a man that will satisfy my remaining years,
About a man that in the future will wipe off my dripping tears.
I won’t ever give up my dreams, I will always fight,
In the end I hope I will find handsome Mr. Right.

(It’s probably easier to understand this poem if you have read the book than if you have not.)

By: Josefine Säleby

Who should and who shouldn't read "Romeo and Juliet"?

Who should and who shouldn’t read ”Romeo and Juliet”

According to my very own opinion, “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the greatest works of all time and it is definitely something every single person should read. And the whole world already knows the story, without even reading it, so I would say that the glass is already half-full.

Although, I would especially recommend it to anyone who is interested in the English language and might want to find out how it developed these past 400 years (as you might know, “Romeo and Juliet” was written by William Shakespeare in 1595-96).
The language is very difficult from time to time and it might be hard to understand, so this isn’t a novel you read in two days if you’re in 7^th grade. Since the novel actually is a play, it is also written as a play, with actual lines and the name of the character saying the line in the margin. But this is something you get used to while reading.

 

If you’re the kind of person who adores drama, machinations, family feuds and love at first sight, then what are you waiting for? “Romeo and Juliet” has been the perfect story for those kinds of people for more than
four centuries!

To summarize; the person I recommend to read “Romeo and Juliet” is a person who might be slightly addicted to old-fashioned language and romantic stories from the 16^th century.

Then, who shouldn’t read “Romeo and Juliet”? Well, I believe that you shouldn’t read this magnificent play if you really detest romantic and poetic lines such as:
“But, soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun…”
To be honest, there are plenty of those kinds of lines.

You should also avoid reading the play if you prefer chapters to acts and scenes, since “Romeo and Juliet” is, as I already told you, a play and not an actual novel.

We are all aware of that reading a new kind of text is always difficult in the beginning. But we also know that it gets easier and easier the further you read.
So what are you waiting for? Take the first step and discover the unknown. Leave all the “normal” novels and books behind for a while and try to read a 400 year old masterpiece; a play that is one of the most famous ones ever written by mankind.

Don’t hesitate! Challenge yourself and embrace the beautiful words of William Shakespeare. 

Emmy Petersson

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Who should read this novel? Why? Who shouldn’t read this novel? Why?

I belive that everyone should read this novel because it’s a beautiful story about humanity and true friendship. Maybe it’s a little too cute occasionally and too wonderful at some times, but I think this is just an incredible story with a beautiful message. Maybe persons who doesn’t like long, thick books shouldn’t read this book because it’s very thick – but I think that it’s a really page turner and you just want to continue reading! The book is religious (John Coffey = Jesus) but I, who isn’t particularly religious, don’t get disturbed by the obvious religious theme. Maybe some individuals would be disturbed by this theme, and they shouldn’t read the book then.

The language is beautiful and personally, which I prefer but maybe some persons would get irritated on the books disposition. It’s arranged so that Paul tells the story (as an old man) and the chapters/the story get interrupted sometimes when something special happens at the nursery home where Pauls is spending his last years. I think this gives the story more life, but I belive that some people would hate this – because it interruptes the storytelling.

Written by Sandra Johansson

The Green Mile by Stephen King

A summary of the book as it would be done for a bookstore online:

When a black giant, convicted for the rape and the murder of two little twin girls, enters at Cold Mountain Penitentiary, he changes the prisons guard Paul Edgecombs life forever. Delacroix, with his tame mouse (Mr Jingles) and William ”Billy the Kid” Wharton are also two of the main characters that have a great impact on the story. Of course also this book has a bad guy – Percy Wetmore, who is a mean and heartless soul who just cares for his own ego. Meanwhile, the other prison guards are trying to make the last days of the convicts as humane as possible. The story is told by an ancient Paul, and it’s an amazing, religious story about miracles, life, death and love. It’s a true page-turner and you hope that this incredible book will never end!

Written by Sandra Johansson