This is actually rather a famous quote that comes as the
final sentence of Chapter 1 of this classic novel. In it, Austen as the omniscient
narrator tells us all there is to know about Mrs. Bennet, Lizzie's mother. Note how the
sentences before pad out this description:
readability="9">
Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a
woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was
discontented she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her
daughters married; its solace was visiting and
news.
Note how the
description sums up her character in a very blunt and not at all flattering way. Mrs.
Bennet, unlike other characters such as her husband, Mr. Bennet, is profoundly limited
in terms of her life's purpose to marrying off her daughters and then visiting others
and gossip. That is the extent of her life. In this sentence then Austen persents us
with a satire of many married women with daughters of her time, whose focus was trying
to secure an eligible match for their children.
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