Written by Jean B (9/19/2005 5:50 p.m.)

Maybe while Lady E was alive, Anne was as treasured by her mother as Elizabeth is treasured by her Father.

This comment segueways nicely into what I have been thinking about in these first chapters. Namely, the family dynamics - that between parent/child and between sisters. And how much of the character we see in Elizabeth and Anne is influenced by their relationship with a particular parent, and how much my their innate temperments. (Mary will have to wait for later chapters).

Elizabeth and Anne preferthe parent most like them by nature, and seems to be favored in turn by that parent.

Elizabeth seems to be, by nature, much like her father, and without her mother's influence has become very like him as an adult. Their closeness plays up each others faults. In prefering her father to her mother, she also disdains the qualities that make Anne superior.

Anne by nature, seems to follow her mother, and was close to her while she lived. Anne must have known her mother was not "the very happiest being in the world" and that surely influenced her own view of rank. Anne felt he mother's death keenly, as any 14 year old would, but had not the maturity yet to have discussed marriage prospects outright with her mother before her death (I would assume). So in looking to LR as a mother-figure, she let LR's persuasion carry a mother's weight, more than it should have. LR's "blindness" outweighs her motherly feelings towards Anne, but , of course, neither Anne nor LR see that. I would love to speculate on Lady Elliott's actual advice on the matter.

People often say they want more than one child so that the children will have playmates - I think the Elliott girls are proof that being sistyers is no guarantee of similar temperments or of siblings being friends. The difference between then and now is that the family pride and duty that exists in all of them would never allow them to break off those family realtionships without a very serious goad - far beyond simple dislike.

Sorry for rambling! Just some first thoughts.