MedVision ad

P&P and Letters To Alice (2 Viewers)

sambo92

New Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
9
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
i tried to read letters to alice but i just forgot eveything i read about. now i have to do an essay on:
how has your understanding of the connections between the texts been enhanced by your examination of the lives of women...

any help??? :confused:
 

sarsieisme

New Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
12
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I really didn't like LTA when i started it (cause she DOES sound like a rambling feminist nong) but as you get through the book and get used to her 'style', maybe about halfway, she becomes tolerable, as long as you don't go reading it with a constant attitude of "OMG I HATE THIS USELESS ****"

if even i, who went from cursing the book to thinking "yeah... it's not THAT bad" can do it, so can you =P. Although i can't believe that anyone, on first reading it could find the first few letters "enjoyable", i personally felt like burning down the city of invention

tip from my teach: if u put on a kind of 'voice' when ur reading it, it's a lot better, as long as the 'voice' isn't that of an annoying old lady.
 

katzenjammer

New Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
8
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Can anyone summarize chapter one (or Letter one) of Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen. PLEASE

I don’t get it and my teacher wants me to write a summary

OHHH! and i can give any who wants a summary of Pride and Prejudice if u want it


Chapter one is an extended metaphor.
The City of Invention is the world of fiction, the houses in it are individual books. The integrity and beauty of the houses reflect the skill of the author. Fay is saying that the best houses (/books) are the ones that stay standing after a long time. She talks about houses that look unremarkable or intimidating from the outside but are in fact amazing once you actually go inside (/read) them. (hey, comparison with first impressions of darcy anyone??)
Shes condemns cheap, popular fiction that doesnt last - they are the houses that crumble after a short period of time because of shoddy craftsmanship.

So theres a start for you, i hope it helps. Weldon's pretty damn pompous about literature, but hey it IS a pretty good metaphor you have to admit.

....and i am writing this in class instead of my essay about LTA and P&P so im thinking i will go and do that now.
 

srourp

New Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
3
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
i tried to read letters to alice but i just forgot eveything i read about. now i have to do an essay on:
how has your understanding of the connections between the texts been enhanced by your examination of the lives of women...

any help??? :confused:
Once you understand the context of Austen that Weldon provides about the position of women, your able to re evaluate characters in the novel P&P and your able to connect to them on many levels. for example Mrs Bennet, you probably thought she was crazy at the start by wanting to get her daughters married so quickly, yet once you read Weldon's novel and you see that if you did not marry you would be basicly left nothing by your father, and that there were little occupations for women which did not pay well, thus marriage was the only option for women of the middle class. thus you understand the motivations behind Mrs Bennet's actions and you are able to change your view due to this enlightment provided by Weldon... thus enhancing your examination or whatever you need to say...

Hope that helps :)
 

hannahcheeseman

New Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
24
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
does anyone else have trouble finding quotes to back up connections between letters to alice and pride and prejudice??
 

Findecano

New Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
2
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
We're doing it too. Yippee.

The whole module seems rather...I don't know, redundant to me. When it says connections I automatically assumed it meant to look for similarities. The few there are seem painfully obvious, along the lines of 'The sky in modern Australia is a similar shade of blue to Georgian England' and the differences (which are still classed as connections) - while important enough in their own right, seem to be - once again - pointing out the obvious. Women were repressed in 19th Century culture. Women have more political, sexual and cultural freedom in the 21st Century. This is good. I agree with all of those things, but an average 10 year old student could tell you any of those things.

As for the novels themselves, Pride and Prejudice just didn't 'do it' for me. Austen's style of writing grates on my nerves and while I understand the Literary significance of her work, it seems like a documentary would have done a more thorough job.

As for Fay Weldon; that pretentious hag can drown in a well. It's all well and good to be proud of your gender, but if I have to read one more sexist comment towards men (after listening to her harp on about how men treat women badly; no hypocrisy there) to have the 'Men just can't stand not being heroes' argument thrown in my face again, I'm going to burn her publishing agents house to the ground. It may be a facade adopted for the purpose of the novel, but until that's proven, fire is the only option.

Weldon and rambling aside, have a missed something crucial here?
 

hannahbeech

New Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
2
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
where can i find that essay on P&P and LTA and didactiscsm or what ever it is? sounds helpful. my teacher said it was the only one available....
its really easy to find, we had is a spoken text for an assignment, its the third or fourth item to come up on google when you type in letters to alice!
 

snooky91

New Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
8
Location
South Grafton
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Yeah, we're doing it too. P&P took me a while to get into, but now I adore it.
Letters to Alice is KILLING ME!
I haven't even read the whole thing yet, probably the 1st half and other random bits. I know heaps of quotes from it though lol.
 

syc92

New Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Messages
1
Location
Alstonville NSW
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I only just started reading letters to Alice... It's really bad =(
I like P&P =) You know just in the 2nd sentence Aunt Fay is a massive bitch...
She's like "I at any rate know more than you"... I'm like biaaaatch.
Anyways, I think her metaphors are a little long... and the name dropping
is a little much =) I'm very bored atm.:bomb:
 

gadoph

New Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
2
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I'm still unsure how we're going to relate the two in an essay; I think I can see the links from LTA to PnP because of its constant reference to context in PnP and how times have gotten much better, etc, but I'm not sure how to relate back from PnP to LTA... (if that makes sense?) ><
Letters is a MASSIVE killer! :eek: I find it really boring and Fay Weldon a bit too arrogant, but I don't mind Jane Austen.
Relating the two texts can be hard. I think you just have to have a strong focus on context and back it up with as many quotes as you can find. I find that a good place to start is the relationship between Elizabeth and Alice - both are free and spirited, and are also instructed by their aunts on how to act in order to achieve success - this may help when trying to make a strong connection.

As for techniques - we've been pretty much ordered to discuss didacticism and irony in regards to LTA. A good essay on didacticism is here - "Didacticism in Fay Welson's <cite>Letters to Alice</cite>:Constructions of Instruction" by Vanessa Manhire - a lot of people already have this but it is very informative.

Good luck! Hope this helps a little.
 

meryemm23q

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
30
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
:burn:we just finished reading both the text.. i dont understand how im meant to write an essay on it :mad:

and i have paper 2 english tomorrow !arghhh
 

annabackwards

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
:burn:we just finished reading both the text.. i dont understand how im meant to write an essay on it :mad:

and i have paper 2 english tomorrow !arghhh
Baha good luck. If it helps at all, i based my essay on there being common concepts throughout both texts :)
 

Safa_2009

New Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Messages
6
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
We're doing it too. Yippee.

The whole module seems rather...I don't know, redundant to me. When it says connections I automatically assumed it meant to look for similarities. The few there are seem painfully obvious, along the lines of 'The sky in modern Australia is a similar shade of blue to Georgian England' and the differences (which are still classed as connections) - while important enough in their own right, seem to be - once again - pointing out the obvious. Women were repressed in 19th Century culture. Women have more political, sexual and cultural freedom in the 21st Century. This is good. I agree with all of those things, but an average 10 year old student could tell you any of those things.

As for the novels themselves, Pride and Prejudice just didn't 'do it' for me. Austen's style of writing grates on my nerves and while I understand the Literary significance of her work, it seems like a documentary would have done a more thorough job.

As for Fay Weldon; that pretentious hag can drown in a well. It's all well and good to be proud of your gender, but if I have to read one more sexist comment towards men (after listening to her harp on about how men treat women badly; no hypocrisy there) to have the 'Men just can't stand not being heroes' argument thrown in my face again, I'm going to burn her publishing agents house to the ground. It may be a facade adopted for the purpose of the novel, but until that's proven, fire is the only option.

Weldon and rambling aside, have a missed something crucial here?

sorry i disagree why is it fine for sexist comments to be directed towards women but as soon as they come near men your pride is wounded. have you never thought that maybe some of things she said are right. Personally i very much like the arguments that Weldon puts forward as they seem very true and honest to me. And you're proving what she says your pride is wounded because for once you were portrayed as the loving hero but instead the bad guy.
It's fine to have opinions but don't impose them on others.
 

six demon bag

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
271
Location
Central Coast, NSW... :(
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
As for Fay Weldon; that pretentious hag can drown in a well.
lol. I stil haven't read all of LTA. I started but then stopped because I found her t be so pretentious and annoying. I get that it's supposed to be ironic, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. annoying. sad. I still haven't read Pride and Prejudice but I still egt okay marks when I write about either of them. Looming HSC means I probably should read them. Alice's hair sounds ugly.
 

healtheworld

New Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
2
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
does anyone know anything that fay weldon says on social class? quotes or anything? im stuck, thankyouuu!
 

six demon bag

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
271
Location
Central Coast, NSW... :(
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I tried to read today! In the second letter she talks about how different things were for women. She mentions social class and stuff - puts alice in the situation of a mother-of-six woman in Austen's time. I don't know if that's helpful at all but good luck!
 

moshi.bum

New Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
28
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Urgh yes, I'm doing these texts for Module A as well. Fay Weldon! That woman frustrates me to no end! :evilfire:
 

Jimhatch

New Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
1
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
yea I haven't read either of the books and its only a week before the exam....couldnt stand P&P, read the first two chapters and gave up.....
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)

Top