There are many people in the world who credit Jane Austen for heavily influencing their lives: men and women, adults and children, people born in the 1800s and those born in the mid-2000s. Her stories are timeless pieces of literature, and the lessons that they contain are not held back due to the period they occur.
I am one of these people.
I could not tell you how young I was when I first became introduced to Miss Austen. In all honesty, I can’t remember a time when she was not a part of my life. At an early age, I began to look at the world through the eyes of my literary heroine: Elizabeth Bennet. To me, this feisty young woman portrayed everything that I wanted to be. She was smart, witty, brave, and she stood up for what she believed in without letting others influence her decision. In addition, her story concludes with happiness as she becomes the great Mistress of Pemberly and marries the handsome Mr. Darcy.
When I grew older and read the book from the eyes of a young adult, I realized that there is a much deeper lesson to be taken from the story — the lesson that no one is perfect. Rather than Mr. Darcy overcoming his arrogance and turning into Prince Charming, Lizzie had to push past her stubbornness and have the courage to admit that she was wrong. It is this idea that has done a great deal of good for me in my life.
Who out there can say that they’ve never been wrong? I’d bet all my money that there isn’t a single person who can. There’s a difference between admitting a fault to yourself and admitting it to other people.
There are countless occasions where I’ve been halfway through an argument (or heated debate), and it dawned on me that the opposing side was correct. The fear that crept into my heart at the realization chilled me to the bone. It was not the fear of being wrong; I was perfectly fine saying that to myself. No, it was the fact that I had to gather the humility to tell this other person that I had been wrong.
I believe that it is this same fear that plagues Lizzie. The moment she reads Mr. Darcy’s letter, she understands that she was wrong, and that there is more to this man than she knows. She knows that she judged him too harshly after their initial meeting, but she can’t bring herself to tell him that. She withholds her apology, and we all know how that turns out: Lizzie’s sister falls in with a bad man. If Lizzie had been brave enough to admit her mistake right away, she could have saved herself from a lot of pain later.
This notion is something that all people should take away from reading "Pride and Prejudice." It’s hard to admit to the world that we aren’t perfect, and I do not see that changing anytime in the near future. But we should embrace the pain and know that it is shaping us into a better person. I’m not saying that admitting you’re wrong is going to lead you into the arms of your own Mr. (or Miss) Darcy, but it can’t hurt to try.
