Posted by Ann on May 20, 1997 at 00:48:48:
In reply to Re: Aunt Norris: what's with this woman, anyhow? posted by Cassia on May 19, 1997 at 15:33:42
] [Norris] doesn't like weakness and Fanny, by beinmg such a skulking, simpering little fool, invites Aunt Norris' abuse. Fanny cannot engender her aunt's respect unless she (Fanny) stands up to to her like her cousins do.
] Fanny is, in many ways, a contradictory character much in the same way as Melanie in Gone with the Wind. A sickly, simperer with a will of iron that no one else seems to notice.
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When exactly does Fanny simper?? She rarely cries in the book, nor does she ever complain--so where is the simpering? I would have to disagree stronly that she either simpers or is a fool. Fanny is strong willed, opinionated, and does the best she can with her introverted temperment and her very limiting situation. Once again I don't understand the contempt people seem to feel towards introverts.
If Fanny had stood up to Norris for the slightest instant, she would have been banished from Mansfield park immediately. Fanny did everything that she had to do to maintain her position at the home she loved among the people that she loved, whether they deserved that love or not.
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