Use this activity to engage all types of learners while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Austen Novel Opening Paragraph”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of Austen’s style by writing an opening paragraph to an imagined Austen novel of their own.

Austen’s novels endure, in part, because of her engaging and highly individual style. In this activity, you will demonstrate your understanding of this style by writing an opening paragraph for an imagined Jane Austen novel.

Investigate the Opening to Sense and Sensibility

• Reread the first paragraph of Sense and Sensibility.
• Take note of how Austen immediately introduces the Dashwoods and their financial concerns. Now that you have read the novel, what conflict do you see her setting up in this paragraph?
• How direct or indirect is Austen in her characterizations and in the way she sets up the context and conflict of this novel? What does this imply about the manners and social class of the characters and the imagined reader?
• How does Austen reinforce these class concerns with syntax choices like “the family of Dashwood” and nearly-redundant and elaborate diction like “invited and received”?
• How is Austen’s sly humor revealed in phrases like “to supply her loss”?