On Jane Austen and Seeing Ourselves in Stories

I’ve had Jane Austen on my mind lately. It feels like over-the-top, “anti-historical” shows and films are having a moment, and while I love The Great and am entertained by Bridgerton, I’m not quite sure what to think about the new film Persuasion, Austen’s classic turned into a surprisingly comedic romance.

The story of Persuasion has always stuck with me because of its melancholy, its despair, its regret. I spent much of my early adulthood building my own regrets and learning that a lack of independence usually means disappointment and unhappiness, so the story spoke to me. I could relate.

This new adaptation takes a lighthearted approach to the story, making Anne into a comedic commentator on her own mistakes as she frequently breaks the fourth wall to explain her feelings. I don’t hate it as much as some do, but it’s not the subtle character development and quiet desperation that I relished as an eighteen-year-old stay-at-home daughter…

Cait WestAugust 14, 2022jane austen, persuasion, stay at home, stay at home daughter, reading Comment

Shelter

This isn’t the first time I’ve had to shelter in place.

The world seems off-balance this year, but the deep part of me has found the old tracks through the forest, hidden due to years of absence, but still there.

During the work week I can muffle the echoes of the past, stay busy in my virtual office, stay connected with the present.

But on my days off, I’m reliving something I haven’t experienced in the seven years since I left my life as a stay-at-home daughter. . . .

MemoirCait WestOctober 14, 2020stay at home, stay at home daughter, shelter in place, covid-19, pandemic, learning, hope, remembering, memory, changeComment

Choosing to Stay Home

The rain and the waiting and the forgetting of days—all this that we are dealing with together from our separate homes—remind me of a time years ago, a time of habitual rain and endless waiting and how it didn’t really matter whether you called today Tuesday or Wednesday. A time when I lived on Kaua`i as a stay-at-home daughter, an available bride with no groom in sight.

Under the stay-at-home order, I am returning to the long stretches of afternoon stillness, quiet moments that turn to hours, a deeper familiarity with my walls and windows, time to read books without the focus to read them. Pen in hand, nothing to say. Aimless walking in neighborhoods that seem to have no neighbors. . . .