I love your post! I copied it, Barbara, and sent it to my aunt who also just finished reading MP as well (didn't get her to join in here, though.) She really enjoyed your comments, too, especially (I think this was her first read of MP) as she had told me she didn't catch all the religious layers in the book.

I like your assessment JA having Fanny end up with Edmund being a deliberate decision, and you summed it up so well as to reasons why. Very interesting your assessment about protections for Fanny, too - against temptation.

Two thoughts that just occurred are regarding Fanny being a redemptive influence on other characters. For Sir Thomas, to follow the suggestion to take in Fanny as a poor relation ended up blessing him and his family. What I think rather interesting, and I don't know whether I understand it, is although it was Mrs. Norris' initial suggestion for Fanny to come, and yet Aunt Norris was not blessed by that suggestion; she was completely unmoved by it. Is one of the lessons here that a right motive is deeper than right action with wrong motive?