Jane Austen Obstacles

Jane Austen was a British author who lived during the seventeenth century. Due to her gender, life during her time period could be very challenging. At times she would have to face many trials and tribulations. However, she did not let that take over her life. Jane was a brave, courageous woman. The obstacles she had to face only influenced the successful woman she was and became the basis for the many novels she would later write. She used the act of writing as a way to express herself. Despite being a female, Jane Austen was a successful author during her time period, who through her influential works was able to leave behind a legacy for many to remember. Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England on December 16, 1775 (Magill 25). Steventon

She never married, and the person who she had the closest relationship with was her older sister, Cassandra. Cassandra, like Jane, remained unmarried, and she was Jane Austen’s “chief critic”. Even though Jane never married, she did have some romantic experience throughout her life. At one point in time during her lifetime, Jane got engaged with one of her father’s former students, Thomas Craven Howle. However, this situation only had a bad ending for Jane. After Mr. Howle traveled to the West Indies, he died of yellow fever. Despite this tragedy occurring, Jane did not lose faith in the romantic aspect of her life. Years later while in South Devon with her family, Jane had the opportunity of meeting a clergyman by the name of Blackall and fell in love with him. In spite of Jane and Blackall being mutually attracted to one another, the relationship was unable to reach a formal engagement between the two. Sadly, Blackall died before they were engaged. This devastating event had a major impact on the life of Jane Austen. This tragic event not only caused her to have no more relations with any other guys, it also caused a break in her literary productivity (Kunitz

Jane published her first novel, Sense and Sensibility in the year of 1811. This novel, however, is not considered one of Jane’s best pieces of literature. Sense and Sensibility is considered to be Jane Austen’s weakest piece of literature, because “Austen’s struggle with the eighteenth century antithetical pattern suggested in the novel’s title” (Magill 26). Shortly after Sense and Sensibility was published, Jane proceeded in her literary career by publishing Pride and Prejudice in the year of 1813 (Magill 25). Pride and Prejudice was also referred to as First Impressions. After completing the novel, Jane set out to have it published. London publisher, Cadell, refused to publish Jane Austen’s novel. This minor setback, however, did not defeat Jane Austen’s ambitions toward her literary works. She was successfully able to get the completed novel, Pride and Prejudice, published in the year of 1813 (Kunitz 22). Despite facing many obstacles and challenges while writing her literary works, Jane never gave up on writing. Throughout the rest of her life, she went on to publish a total of six other novels. Mansfield Park was published in the year of 1814. Emma was published in the year of 1815. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were two novels she had completed at the time of her death, however, they were