SS is like a mystery story, structured in such a way that we feel alone and a little bit friendless, relying like the Dashwood girls on only the information available to a woman. If the men conferred too much with each other, and we find we could trust their more informed judgments, that sense of suspenseful isolation would be lost, I think. I like that the story is the Dashwood girls against a world that is not, until the very end at least, colluding for their future happiness. It would have done had their father not died, accumulated for them a massive dowry, and guided them with his greater insight.