]if Lady had wanted Anne to be removed from Kellynch once in a while, why hadn't she invited Anne to go with *her* on her trips instead? I can't imagine Lady Russell--who, to my mind, truly and dearly loves Anne--neglecting Anne, even if unintentionally. Can it just mean then that Anne, melancholy as she seems to be, just refuses Lady Russell's previous offers and declines to have a change in society?

This is a very good point. Thanks for bringing it to the board. :-)

I think we could come up with a great many theories about this -- some of which will not reflect well on LR and some of which will not reflect well on Anne. My point being that, since we can't know for certain, it is important, at least for me personally, to give equal treatment to both characters.

I have not, as yet, selected a focus topic for this Group Read. But I have adopted a focus aspiration. In this GR, I am aspiring to be as fair as humanly possible to Lady Russell and Elizabeth! I've come to realize that many of my feelings about the characters in Persuasion are coloured by prejudices that originate from having viewed P2 prior to having read the novel. (I also have a little prejudicial "baggage" leftover from having grown up with an older sister who treated me very much like the P2 Elizabeth treats Anne in the film!) ;-P

I'm approaching this GR by making a conscious effort to avoid "reading" things into the text. When theorizing, I am applying the same reasoning to Anne as I do to Lady Russell. I'm trying to strike a balance by considering both sides of a question -- by looking for as many reasons to support Lady Russell's feelings or actions in a given circumstance as I find reasons to condemn them. Finally, I am being careful to ground my conclusions in the text.

What am I learning? That I have indeed been gulity of prejudicial treatment of Lady Russell in the past! Also, that I have been reluctant in the past to see Anne clearly (as JA created her) because of my extreme fondness for the character. (I have been both proud and prejudicial!) :-P