What's it all about? I think, in part, Miss Austen portrays to her readers a feminine ideal for that era in showcasing enduring qualities, contrasting them up against the more selfish, dishonest, and greedy traits of others that swirl about the heroines. Elinor is a shining example of this. Looking at the rest of Miss Austen's central heroines in all of her works, there is a Biblical list of their qualities: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control (Gal 5:22) I'll admit that not all of the heroines exhibited all of these qualities all of the time but I believe these attributes made up the archetype of the woman that J.A. wanted to show her readers. That is just one of the "what's it all about" for this reader.