IRJE #1: Leaving Norland Park

The book I’ve chosen to write this IRJE about is Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, which I have recently started to read. The story so far centers around the Dashwood family, Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret. Mr. Dashwood has recently died, and his son by another marriage inherited the estate, Norland Park, where they had lived. The son’s wife is unempathetic and persuades him not to give them any of his inheritance, and Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters go to live elsewhere.

Upon leaving, Marianne is very saddened:

“Dear, dear Norland!” said Marianne, as she wandered alone before the house, on the last evening of their being there; “when shall I cease to regret you? when learn to feel at home elsewhere? O happy house! could you know what I suffer in now viewing you from this spot, from whence perhaps I may view you no more! and you, ye well-known trees! but you will continue the same. No leaf will decay because we are removed, nor any branch become motionless although we can observe you no longer! No; you will remain the same; unconscious of the pleasure or the regret you occasion, and insensible of any change in those who walk under your shade! But who will remain to enjoy you?” (p.16)

I chose this quotation because I find it very beautifully written and it touches on how I felt when I moved homes, though my feelings were less acute as I had spent less of my time there. I also felt regret and sadness upon leaving, and especially as we rented it out for a time, that it may not be “enjoyed” enough or ever quite in the same way.

I like how Marianne reflects on how the trees which she has loved so will continue as they are though she is gone. It makes me think about how often we can be so absorbed in our own issues that it feels as if things are more affected by us than they really are. For Marianne, it may feel as if Norland Park has changed so much ever since her father died and her half-brother and his wife inherited it, but to the trees, nothing has changed except the normal passing of time.