Jane Austen is a highly acclaimed British author of the 19th century. Although this era was a critical time of great reforms, industrialization, and revolution, the primary focus of Austen’s novels was the smaller worlds of the English middle-class society. She crafted witty and insightful depictions of English life and has written timeless, classic novels that are still enjoyed among contemporary audiences. In her lifetime, she completed six successful works, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Born December 16, 1755 in the rural village of Steventon, Hampshire, Jane Austen was the seventh of eight children to George Austen and Cassandra Leigh. She had six brothers, James, George, …show more content…
By this time, Austen had already began writing early drafts of her first novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey. It is speculated that Sense and Sensibility, which follows the story of two sisters, was inspired by her own relationship with her beloved sister, Cassandra. When her father passed away in 1805, her brothers, with the exception of her brother George who suffered from disabilities, had all already become well educated and independent. Meanwhile, Austen, her mother, and her sister were left with devastating financial issues. Similar to the heroines of her novels, she had little opportunities as a single, middle-class woman besides marriage and was obliged to accept financial support from the family’s wealthier sons. The three moved to Southampton briefly before they finally settled in Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Back in the quiet countryside, Jane Austen completed and anonymously published her first three novels under the pseudonym “A Lady.” She lived in Chawton for much of the remainder of her life until her health suddenly declined as a result of what seems to have been Addison’s disease, and Austen was taken to Winchester to be treated. She died on July 18, 1817 at the age of