Sense and Sensibility

Austen’s interest in the workings of the mind is one of the elements that makes her novels groundbreaking. How does introducing a psychological element into Sense and Sensibility impact the reader’s experience?

• How does her narrative style—free indirect discourse—give the reader insight into the workings of her characters’ minds? 
• How does Austen use diction, dialogue, and plot details to communicate what characters are thinking and feeling?
• Which character or characters does the audience have the most insight into? How does knowing their thoughts and feelings increase the audience’s investment in the plot? How does it make the plot more relevant to the audience’s own lives?
• How does Austen use her characters’ psychology to develop the themes of Sensibility Versus Real Feeling and The Lifelong Mission of Character Improvement?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt asks students to consider both how and why Austen communicates characters’ thoughts and feelings. The bulleted questions that follow the main prompt question are not of equal difficulty but rather represent sequential steps in reasoning through an answer to the main prompt question. Students are likely to have a ready answer for the first of these bulleted questions, but they can spend as much or as little time as you have available gathering examples for the second of these bulleted points.