THE CLASS BARRIER

Class as a theme started with the beginning of the novel and is still used nowadays. (MacEwan)

THE CLASS BARRIER

• Writers are born:• In a specific cultural and political climate

• Into a precise social class of which they often become representatives(J.Austen, C.Dickens)

• Within a system of ideas of which they may be only partly aware

The Reading public

• The readers are conditioned in the same way and, as readers, tend to influence the novelists

Relationship between social reality and fiction

In terms of:• Setting• Characterization (importance of the

description of clothes in XVIII and XIX century:the clothes tell the class)

• Point of view

Society in the 18° and first half of the 19° century

• The upper class:• Aristocracy=dominating

high politics• Ecclesiastical

office=patronage over church

• The gentry:• Landowners(of smaller parts

of lands)• justices of the peace (they

kept the order in the country)• Country elite :• The local power elite• The local status elite(prestige)• The local élite of

wealth(money)• The clergy

MIDDLING PEOPLE

• Farmers/yeomen=they rented the lands but were independent

• Professionals:• Army(2° son)• Church(3° son)• Navy(4° son)• Lawyers and doctors(5°

child)

• Commercial middle class =Adam Smith “England is a country of shopkeepers.

They were becoming more important thanks to the trade abroad and the growing empire

THE LOWER ORDERS

• The labouring classes• Mechanics• Artisans• Servants (at the time there was an incredible

number of servants)

FEATURES OF THIS SOCIETY

• Scarse social mobility• With the following exceptions:

intrusion of moneyed newcomers(Heathcliff)• Inferior ladies married into the high

ranks(Cinderella)• London merchants• professionals

JANE AUSTEN:PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

• Setting: small towns or villages in the countryside

• Urban versus rural• No reference to the historical events(enclosed

world)• Social class awareness: ambiguous(strong

awareness of strong differences but the only classes considered are landed gentry, aristocracy, professionals)

THEMES

• Marriage (social event not personal event)• Social sensitivity(pride and prejudice)• Self-knowledge(only that can break class

barrier)• Opposition between art and nature, feelings

and common sense• Women’s education(little)

OTHER FEATURES

• the protagonists NEVER WORK . They are busy with balls,entertainment and conversation.

• They are moderately educated• Their houses are the mirror of the social status• No interest in working classes