Comments on: Blame it on Jane (Austen, that is)

By: jj

jj — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:27:55 +0000

Jane was careful to make sure that her heroes were actually not jerks. “Jerky guys with hearts of gold” are in fact not jerks, and Jane’s heroines didn’t make them into princes – or anything else; the hearts of gold did that.

By: Simplemind

Simplemind — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:33:41 +0000

Jane Austen didn’t make women like jerks. Women liked jerks before Jane was born let alone learned to write.

Why do Women like jerks? Not sure, maybe because they dislike wimpy sycophants more. Best way to make a woman mark you as not interesting is to fawn all over her constantly. Women want to be courted, but not by a man who has (at least in her mind) a lower status. So if you worship the ground she walks on, she will enjoy it, but will walk on you in the end.

Also, what is it you mean by jerk? I’m not talking wife beating that’s obviously a non starter. If you can’t control your emotions then you are a jerk – if you punch people out or chase them around like a puppy fawning for attention that is polar opposites of the same root problem – insecurity. Jerks tend to project security and self confidence, if you can do that without being an actual jerk then you are doing it right.

The jerky guy as love interest goes way back – shakespeare, the romans, greeks. Old as time. Its real.
Is the taming of the shrew about a man who tames a woman or a woman who controls a man . . .
Ah marriage — some people think its boring. Hah.

By: Ron19

Ron19 — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:40:51 +0000

Gringo: I’ve noticed over the years that men marry a woman that is already a perfect wife and she doesn’t need to change; women marry a man that they think they can change to be the perfect husband.

Sadly, both are soon disappointed.

By: Libby

Libby — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:38:11 +0000

You can credit Austen for the making a jerk seem attractive in Pride and Prejudice, but she was better at illustrating how one shouldn’t act on first impressions. Most of her books include men (like Wickham, Willoughby, Crawford. Mr. Elliot) who are charming and seemingly perfect, but upon getting to know them better we discover they are jerks. These jerks don’t get the girl.
Where romantic comedies stray today is that they make the jerk charming, and then have him win the girl despite a huge lie or sordid past. Can’t blame Austen for that – that’s just bad writing.

By: SADIE

SADIE — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:50:49 +0000

Gringo, thanks for the giggles.

Never understood why or how one chooses a partner (wisely, hopefully) and then becomes hellbent on changing them into someone else.

Might as well go square dancing a few nights a week …’change yer partner do-si-do’.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:14:21 +0000

]In the almost two hundred years since Pride & Prejudice was published, movies and books are filled with jerky guys — arrogant guys, pushy guys, snotty guys, aggressive guys — who become charming princes thanks to the heroine’s incredible charm.

Along with the theme from novels and movies that the heroine turns a jerk into a charming person, and thus a potentially good marriage partner, there appears to be a similar theme among some married women: change your spouse. It appears that there is a greater tendency among women than among men to want to change their married partners. Some call this nagging.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:48:02 +0000

You see, the entire half of the book was about two people misunderstanding each other. All they had to do was have a little adult conversation and air things out, but because they didn’t do that, half the book was taken up in the process.

Sound familiar to you, Book?

By: Michael Adams

Michael Adams — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 20:52:22 +0000

It is my understanding, from snippets here and there, that Mr. Book, (Dr. Worm?) for all his Lefty irrationality, is anything but a jerk. For this reason alone, I seriously doubt that Sissy B.Worm will fall for jerks, certainly not after the first one or two. If her daddy is nice to her Mama, she’ll expect no less from any suitors. Also, while Dad may strive to be non-confrontational, she has a Mama Grizzly who would set his a** straight in short order, and Uncle Charles and Uncle Quixote may be called upon as a citizen militia, at need. (Oh, yeah, there’s a Viking in the Chicago suburbs who comes to town from time to time. )Frankly, I pity da foo.

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 20:13:21 +0000

Good advice!

This post should be required reading for every girl entering Middle School and once again when they enter High School.