is difficult to understand -- and yet I know many people who say from an early age they knew if they were a parent's favorite or least favorite. Sometimes it has to do with birth order, gender, interests in common, being too different from the parent, or being too much like the parent. In this case I think we know that Mrs Bennet identifies strongly with Lydia, the one most similiar to her, and I agree that it is probably Lizzy's independent spirit that vexes Mrs B the most and puts her on the bottom of the heap.