Class Rigidity and Social Mobility

In late eighteenth and early 19th century Eng push down there was a sort of moral code of behavior and standards that are to be maintained by the middle and upper partitioninges of society. Austen realistically mirrors this code through with(predicate) the characters and plots of her novels while showing that accessible flexibility was narrow and conformation boundaries were strict. The topics of class stringency and loving mobility are important areas in Jane Austens literature. We begin to get wind that Austen is non a revolutionary as she supports and preserves the morals and impost of societies ierarchy.However she often encourages and backs the emergence of bran- immature riches permitting greater social mobility. In Austens population the naval and tradesmen professions are means by which it is acceptable for peoples to toss out their social situations. In Persuasion and Emma, we witness class rigidity as nearly as class mobility. Characters in the Navvy and tho se who are freshly risen from or in trade wee-wee obtained fortune enough to p woeful accepted into societys upper classes, which suggests that Austen allows some flexibility in her power structure. But, in Austens world here are rules and limitations to social acceptance and Sir Walter Elliot and Mrs. frame, and Mr. Elton are reprimanded for overstepping their bounds. Wealth is wherefore the well-nigh principal determining factor of social standings and suitable sufferes. With wealth in mind Austen is traditional in her respect for class stability, simply she recognizes the benefits of bigger social flexibility with new wealth. Austen uses irony and success of the naw and tradesmen to show the advantages that new wealth has on social mobility. Sir Walter takes great offense to the naval profession nd speaks, I have strong grounds of objection to it.First, as being the means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinction, and altitude men to honours which their beginners and grandfathers never dreamt of A man is in greater riskiness in the naw of being insulted by the rise of one whose father, his father might have disdained to speak to, than in any other line. (Austen, Persuasion, 20) Sir Walter is phonation of the upper class of the past. He holds tight to his morals and values the traditions of his ancestry. It is observable here that he has great ifficulty in separating someone from his or her family and cannot infiltrate how one would not follow in his fathers footsteps.This quotation also presents that Sir Walter Elliot personally feels insulted when someone of a random family who started off below him can extirpate up above him. He feels that he should be superior to most Navvy men because the Elliots have been at the top end of the hierarchy for so long. When sir Walter says undue distinction it is ironic because he implies that his distinction was well earned and the distinction and honors ofa naval officer is not. He absur dly believes he should be superior because he didnt have to do any earn to achieve his title.At Persuasions end, Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot were to be married. Austen described Wentworth, with five-and-twenty thousand pounds, and as in high spirits in his profession as merit and activity could place him, he was no longer nobody. He was now esteemed quite worthy to consultation the girlfriend of a foolish, spendthrift baronet, who had not had principle or moxie enough to maintain himself in the situation in which Providence nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide placed him, and who could give his daughter at resent but a small part of the share often thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter. Persuasion, 232) This passage shows that new wealth attained by people of low birth can have a great deal of social power Just as ancient families have social influence. It says that Wentworth was no longer a nobody, so he was now worthy of Annes hand, daughter ofa baronet, as his earn ings put him on an upper class scale. By using a passive voice here it implies that society would concord that it does not matter that his wealth came from a profession, wealth is wealth, and he allow for be held in high pretend for his earnings. The narrative also pokes pleasure at Annes father, Sir Walter Elliot for being imprudent with his money.This suggests that Wentworth is more favorable to support Anne than Sir Walter, raze though he thinks himself highly superior to Wentworth. After Frank Churchill arrives in town Emma takes him to shop at Fords and says mfou will be adored in Highbury. You were in truth popular before you came, because you were Mr. Westons son (Austen, Emma, 155). Mr. Weston was a former legions captain and earned enough money to buy his own land putting him in a higher social situation. This quotation shows that not only is Mr. Weston associated with Highbury, he is held in high regard there.Frank Churchill is also a very wealthy man of the trade an d because of his existn wealth he is the talk of Highbury society. Through satire of the high-class society (Sir Walter), and through thanksgiving and regard for naw and trade professions as a means of social mobility, Austen shows that the current social structure is moderately changing for the better. Although there are benefits of social mobility from new wealth peoples and patrons, tradition in maintaining class structure is imperative and belong to a class should be ccompanied with finances. After Mr. Elton proposes to Emma, the bank clerk attempts to understand Mr.Eltons motives. mayhap it was not fair to expect him to feel how very much he was her inferior in talent, and all the elegancies of mind. The very want of such equating might prevent his perception of it but he must get that in fortune and consequence she was greatly his superior. He must know that the Woodhouses had been settled for several generations at Hartfield, the younger branch of a very ancient familyan d that the Eltons were nobody. (Emma, 105) The narrator suggests hat Elton cannot comprehend how he is not toilsome on of Emma because he himself is unfit.The snobbish tone in this passage attempting to commiserate with Elton is declaratory of Austens disapproval of such a notion. The narrator is trying to fathom why Elton thinks he is of high enough rank to even ask Emma something of the sort. It says he must know suggesting that he should know that he was in the wrong. The narrator calls the Eltons nobodies this serves as a reminder of their economic situation and place in the social hierarchy. Anne sees a possible threat in the way Mrs. Clay a polite widow recommends herself to her father Sir Walter Elliot.Anne thinks she is widely overstepping her boundaries in regard to rank. Anne, felt the imprudence of the arrangement an acute mind and assiduous pleasing manners, unceasingly more dangerous attractions than any merely personal might have been. Anne was so impressed by the degree of danger, that she could not excuse herself from trying to make it perceptible to her sister (Persuasion, 33). Anne believes it is ner obligation as a outgrowth ot the upper class to protect ner tamilYs name. She calls he match a danger and inappropriate because she knows the meaning of a suitable match, matching in class and rank.She is evocative of her social structure and how it functions and is greatly offended by even the hatchway of low rank coming into her family by marriage. Because Anne is the heroine in Persuasion and we as readers associate with her ideals, it becomes clear that Austen wants us to know that marrying into a family with wealth without having wealth oneself is unacceptable. It is evident that Austen is conventional in her respect for societal traditions as none of he marriages in Austens fiction of which she approved was economically unwise.In close, Austen sticks to tradition but is lenient in accepting new wealth into her social structure. Auste n reveals class mobility when she eventually allows Anne to marry Wentworth even though they are of different heritage. The match is acceptable, as he has through the Navvy accumulated fortune and unspoilt merit enough to secure Annes status. She also uses the ridiculousness of Sir Walter to convey that to be of the upper class it does require hard work and management, as he is thoughtless with his money causing him to fall in rank. Mr.