Sense and Sensibility

Chapters 1-17

Reading Check

1. Fanny/his wife (Chapter 2)

2. Barton Park (Chapter 6)

3. Edward’s (Chapter 8)

4. Willoughby (Chapter 9)

5. A horse (Chapter 12)

6. Two weeks (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. Henry Dashwood, the father of the family, inherits the home, but it is entailed to his son, John, who inherits it when Henry dies. John wants to live there with his wife, Fanny, and they turn his stepmother and half-sisters out. (Chapter 1)

2. Fanny specifically, and loudly, characterizes such a woman as trying to “draw [Edward] in.” Without confronting Elinor directly, she is accusing her of trying to trick Edward into throwing away the prospect of an advantageous marriage by making him fall in love with her. She insinuates that Elinor’s motive is financial and that she does not have Edward’s best interest at heart. (Chapter 4)

3. Elinor—the cooler and more logical sister—simply shrugs off Mrs. Jennings’s remark, finding the woman beneath worrying about. By contrast, Marianne shows her sensitive and emotional nature when she reacts with disgust and directs an openly sympathetic look at Elinor.