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3 years ago and now 🌹

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Queen Charlotte:

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Opal’s Eccentricity, Mr. Gattax, 2019

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I can feel Peeta press his forehead into my temple and he asks, "So now that you've got me, what are you going to do with me?"

I turn in to him. "Put you somewhere you can't get hurt."

- The Hunger Games, Page 368

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Slight redesign for their fits

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The White Wolf

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Gently places a request for happy Dany in your hands. Maybe with her three little dragons? Just need more happy Daenerys in the world tbh

Here you go!

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afternoon tea 🍯🍵🌸 | prints

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Building the hand and torch of the Statue of Liberty, Paris, 1876.

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Classicstober Day 17: Atalanta 🐗

Hanging out with Artemis.

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This is about Mary's portrayal in the book, not about her softened 2005 film portrayal, or about the "genuinely smart, shy, likable nerd' Mary of fanon. Let's get that out of the way.

I think most of us can agree that Mary is written as a comic figure. She tries to compensate for her homely looks by showing off her intellect and accomplishments, yet only comes across as a preachy, pretentious "know-nothing know-it-all." It's implied that she doesn't really prefer reading to socializing, but pretends to so her pretty sisters won't outshine her in society, and she definitely has a "Not Like Other Girls" attitude about herself, albeit with intellectualism instead of tomboyishness.

But goodness knows, countless readers think she deserves more sympathy than Austen seems to give her! As the plainest of the five Bennet sisters, and as the middle child too, she's generally ignored by everyone, both within her family and outside of it. Everything she does is arguably because she's starved for attention and respect. Not only that, but she lives in a society where her future can only be secured by marriage – as her mother lets no one forget – yet she lacks either wealth or beauty to attract a husband. If she's a bit of a Pick-Me Girl, it's arguably just because she's desperate to be picked. Fans relate to her because she's an underdog. Besides, she's only a teenager, not an adult who should "know better," and as with all the Bennet sisters, her parents have given her no guidance.

Then there's the question of whether her nerdiness and introversion really are performative or not. Personally, I came away from the book thinking they were performative. All an act to make people see her as "the smart one" of her family, to (over-)compensate for the fact that she's the least beautiful. But plenty of other readers view her as genuine – some even argue that from a modern perspective, she could be on the autism spectrum. And I know how annoying it is when I personally relate to a character for being socially awkward and neurodivergent-seeming, only for people to dismiss that character as being performative, selfish, "Not Like Other Girls," etc.

But now for the main reason for this poll. When I read @bethanydelleman's article about Canon Mary vs. Fanon Mary on Always Austen, which doesn't take a positive view of Canon Mary, I saw that about half the comments were attempts to defend her. And one person wrote that they dislike Austen's attitude toward Mary – that it seems childish, like making fun of a nerd on the schoolyard.

So I wanted to ask the question: does that person make a valid point? Is Austen's comic portrayal of Mary more disdainful and mean-spirited than Mary really deserves? Or does Mary fully deserve to be mocked by the narrative? Or are your personal feelings on this subject somewhere in-between?

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Adaptations of novels by their very nature are always going to differ from the source material but I find it interesting precisely how they do.

For instance, I find it curious that both the 1995 and 2005 adaptations of Pride and Prejudice feature scenes where Elizabeth declares she will only marry for love, because not only is such a quote nowhere to be found in the novel, I also find such a sentiment unrealistic for a Regency lady.

As stated in Chapter 22,

'[Marriage] was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.'

All women knew they would be expected to find a husband to provide for them, given that they weren't... you know... classed as people in their own right by law. Especially the Bennets, who lack substantial dowries and know as soon as Mr Bennet dies, any unmarried sisters will be entirely dependent on their male relatives, which isn't a secure position.

Of course, it wouldn't be unheard of for a woman to wish for a husband she could respect and who respected her in turn. But she's not an idiot! I think Elizabeth is astute enough to realise that a love match would be a bonus rather than an expectation for her marriage. She doesn't quite sink to the depths of pessimism of Charlotte in asking only for a comfortable home, and I think Elizabeth would still expect a partner to respect her (hence why she refuses Mr Collins and Mr Darcy at his first time of asking) but I don't see her as a hopeless romantic. Not Elizabeth, who voiced her increasing dissatisfaction with the world and the people who inhabit it.

I wonder if these adaptations included such a line because they find the idea that in Mr Darcy, Elizabeth found the true love that she was never expecting to find to be the most romantic idea of all. Personally, I think that not expecting to marry for true love but finding it anyway, especially in the man she least expected, is far more romantic.

These scenes have long frustrated me because I think they fundamentally underestimate the pragmatism of women at the time and make Elizabeth and Mr Darcy's union a little less satisfying! She loved him in the end, yes, but even if they failed to overcome their respective shortcomings and somehow failed to end up together, I hardly think that Elizabeth would have turned into an old maid, sitting at Longbourn and desperately waiting for a true love that would never come...

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Mary gets so many undeserved laurels for being “bookish.” Yeah she’s always got a book but she constantly demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about what’s in those books. She can recite passages perfectly but never in a situation where it’s relevant. And she’s not left out by her sisters! They invite her places and she doesn’t go with them! While being mean about it! I give her a lot of leeway because she’s young and her education was only slightly less neglected than her younger sisters but she’s not like, secretly the best Bennet sister!

Mary Bennet lovers: She's so neglected and ignored by her whole family!

the actual novel

Jane, Elizabeth, Kitty, & Lydia: Hey Mary, want to come with us?

Mary: No, and it's stupid that you want to go at all.

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🐟🐟🌕🐟🐟🐟🐟 // swallowtail shiners // gouache on hot press paper

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~ You left pieces of yourself in every corner simply to ensure I would still ache when my mind drifts to you...~

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Vanitas Still Life (1667) - Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts