ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Jane Austen’s (1775–1817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination of parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-century sentimental and Gothic novels.

Detailed explanation-2: -Jane Austen expected her readers to be sensitive to questions of social status, but she remorselessly satirised characters who were obsessed with fine social distinctions. There is certainly no association in her novels between high rank and any great virtue or ability.

Detailed explanation-3: -Gentry. Jane Austen’s novels are set in the social context of the gentry, to which Jane Austen herself belonged. Some of her heroines have no fortune (Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park), others on the other hand are very well off (Emma), but the social class remains the same.

Detailed explanation-4: -Austen’s value system can be thought of as a sphere with layers. The innermost core might be called “morals, ” the next layer we could call “sentiments, ” and nally the surface “manners.” Morals are the fundamental principles: self-knowledge, generosity, humility, tenderest compassion, upright integrity.