My group read focus is on Anne’s aloneness. Chapters 1 to 7 inspired this focus; they are packed full of Anne being ignored, neglected, and used. This first post focuses on the Elliots. The description of the Elliot family history in the Baronetage caught my eye, to me “…with all the Marys and Elizabeths they had married” sets Anne apart from her sisters at birth due to the absence of her name in the ancient rolls. Unlike her sisters, Anne does not appear to have an Elliot family name and likewise she lacks the Elliot pride. Elizabeth’s pride demands a husband not only of baronet blood but of Elliot blood. Mary’s pride demands her right of precedence (as the daughter of a baronet) regardless of the ill feelings it causes among her in-laws. The Elliots, but Anne, are a prideful, selfish and idle lot; they are a family in decline financially and morally. Only Anne consistently shoulders responsibility—in her plan of entrenchment, in taking-leave of the tenants and by warning Elizabeth of Mrs. Clay. Of the Elliot’s Anne alone is of a caliber equal with their ancestors who held responsible office and whose loyalty was noted by deed. By sense, disposition and activity Anne is an outsider within her own family.

Anne’s situation echoes her mother’s; they both made one ill choice that affected their happiness ever afterwards. Lady Elliot married Sir Walter under the influence of a youthful infatuation and “though not the very happiest being in the world herself, had found enough in her duties, her friends, and her children, to attach her to life…” (Ch. 1). Anne breaks her engagement to Captain Wentworth under the influence of parental duty to Lady Russell. Seven years later Anne is not the happiest of beings only finding comfort in being of use to family and friends. Anne’s grief is isolating because she has no sympathetic ear; her emotions are kept under constant control. She acts out her mother’s role with Sir Walter: “She had humoured, or softened, or concealed his failings, and promoted his real respectability…” also describes Anne’s relationship with Mary. In Ch. 6 Anne humors Mary’s complaints away then softens, conceals and promotes her as mediator with the Musgroves. Anne’s pride is that of her mother; pride in being useful to others and in a refusal to give in to her sorrow.