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How Does Steinbeck Present Fanny's Education In Himself

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Mansfield Park starts to reveal Fanny’s intellectual attractions at a very early age when Edmund becomes interested in Fanny’s reasoning ability. When the ten year old Fanny arrives in Mansfield Park and is ignored by all family members, the narrator explains that Fanny’s intelligence and willingness to apprehend Edmund’s lessons made Edmund take interest in her. Edmund sees in Fanny a person who is devoted to her family and who is extremely grateful for his help in writing a letter to her brother William. Convinced of Fanny’s kindness of heart and of “a strong desire of doing right” (II, 13), Edmund starts to pay more attention to his cousin: “Kept back as she was by everybody else, his single support could not bring her forward, but his attentions were otherwise of the highest importance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures. He knew her to be clever, to have a quick apprehension as well as good sense, and a fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself” (II, 16, my italics). This passage clearly focuses on Fanny’s mind and her cognitive abilities. The italicized …show more content…

Edmund molds Fanny’s personality and character based on his idea of perfection: “he recommended the books which charmed her leisure hours, he encouraged her taste, and corrected her judgment” (II, 16-17). Gilbert and Gubar argue that Austen managed the difficult task of achieving female authority by simultaneously conforming to and subverting patriarchal standards (73). Fanny’s education and growth according to Edmund’s standards reflects this duality in Austen’s works. Although Edmund acts in a very condescending way that reinforces patriarchal authority over Fanny (after all, her personality and education must reflect what he believes is appropriate), he nevertheless provides Fanny with more substantial qualities than the superficiality of physical

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