A wonderful tribute to her author Jane Austen.
Yes, “Pride and Prejudice” is two hundred years young.
If I had to summarize this immortal novel in one word, that word would be class.
Class.
I give you the Oxford Dictionary definition of class; “a social division based on social or economic status: the ruling class and/or (the classes) archaic rich or educated.”
In simpler terms, class is the last remaining prejudice. People of color, women, lesbians and gays can no longer be discriminated against by law.
But class, everyday.
The scenario.
Suppertime, anywhere, in North America.
The phone rings.
It is a telemarketer on the line.
Truly, a small irritant in your life, a person just like yourself trying to make a living.
You yell, swear, and humiliate him.
You accuse him of calling from India when he is dialing out of Toronto.
You assume you are more educated than he is because his English isn’t as good as yours.
English is his third language and he is working at two other jobs while he is working on his Masters degree.
You tell him to get a real job, meanwhile you are collecting unemployment insurance.
A privilege, he doesn’t have. He pays more than three times the university tuition that your child pays and never complains.
He loves Canada.
He goes off hook to ask his supervisor if he can leave five minutes early to catch the last bus.
He swallows his “pride” once again as he connects to his last caller, maybe the last call will be a nice old lady who won’t give him a hard time.
He runs to catch the bus. He slips on the ice.
For snow and ice are as foreign to him as tsunamis are to you.
He gets up and brushes the snow off of himself, happy that only his “pride” has been hurt because international students are sometimes not eligible for health insurance.
He gets on the bus, and asks the bus driver how his night is going.
You know, in what direction this bus, or this story is heading so I won’t insult your intelligence.
Let’s just celebrate the literary lives of Elizabeth Bennet and her beloved Mr. Darcy.
Long may they live!
Finis.
The End.
To “Pride and Prejudice.”
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