#pileofscraps | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride & Prejudice Chapter 12 - A Farewell to Netherfield

Each week, Catherine reads through an annotated chapter of Pride & Prejudice and shares her thoughts with the interweb until it’s done. Or until she gets sick of Jane Austen. Whichever comes first. This week : Chapter 12.

"They were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother."

For the last few chapters, Jane Bennet has been recuperating in the Bingley household after falling ill on the way there. Her sister Lizzy joined her to help her recover somehow, dashing their mother’s hopes that Jane would grow closer to Charles Bingley during her visit. Now, she’s beginning to pick up, even going as far as leaving her room in the last chapter.

Since she doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life as his tenant, Lizzy sends a letter off home asking Mrs Bennet to bring a carriage around for them. Since she still holds onto the hope that Jane and Bingley will bond, she responds with a message that must have been delivered either on foot or using the very carriage Lizzy wants to take saying that she simply cannot until at least Tuesday, but can delay that if Jane or Bingley want. I can understand why Jane would need the carriage in her state, but considering that Lizzy walked there from her home in the first place, I don’t really see why she can’t do that now Jane is doing better.

Utterly unfazed by this, Ms Bennet decides to take her host’s carriage to get home as soon as possible, which gives each of the Netherfieldians (Netherfieldites?) pause for thought. Charles is in no small way devastated by the news, Ms Bingley blames her “jealousy and dislike” of Lizzy for driving Jane away and Mr Darcy thinks it’s about time, as she’s been such a distraction to him and made his good friend Ms Bingley tease him so much. The nerve of that woman!

To make sure Lizzy does not change her mind, he decides to conceal all signs of affection and interest towards her just to be safe speaking “scarcely” ten words to her throughout Saturday, and kept his eyes solely on his book when left alone with her for half an hour. Clearly, he has a way with the ladies. Conversely, Ms Bingley taps into a hitherto unknown vein of love that she targets at the Bennet sisters, doing all she can to keep Jane around because the girls can’t possibly lead separate lives.

After church, the Bennets take their leave and go back to their mother’s scornful arms. Her schemes dashed to pieces because Lizzy wouldn’t stay at Bingley’s house for another three days. On the other hand, her father is quite quietly pleased to have them back to restore the usual family balance. So far, we have heard little about what the Bennet household has been up to without the two girls, and I doubt we’ll get filled in much as everything is described as having “lost it’s animation” in their absence.

Despite this, we learn that Mary has been quietly reading, and Catherine and Lydia have been keeping track of their favourite soldiers, detailing a rather unpleasant flogging in thankfully few words. So nothing out of the ordinary, really.

Thoughts

When the camera is on Lizzy, the rest of the world stops turning, it would seem.

The best laid plans of Bennets and Men have gone awry again.

Mr Darcy is really misdirecting his issues with Charlotte Bingley, but at least he made parting easier.

This Beta post editor actually carries over my italiscised text and whatnot from Google Docs! Jolly good show.

Thoughts? Feel free to give me feedback or recommendations based on this. I’m always happy to polish my knowledge. And come back next week for Chapter 13, where the Bennets are romanced by their cousin. Think I stopped reading around here last time, so wish me luck!

7 notes · View notes

sofeaart · 4 years

Text

entry for my darling @pileofscraps #scraps_500_dtiys :P

[click on image for better quality]

#sofeaart #digital art #digital drawing #digital illustration #digitalart #digitalillustration #ipadart #ipadpro #drawthisinyourstyle

0 notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride & Prejudice Chapter 14 - Prepare for Backgammon

Each week, Catherine shares her inane thoughts on Pride & Prejudice chapter by chapter until it’s done. Today : Chapter 14.

Last chapter, Reverend Collins paid a visit to Longbourn House to try and build the bridge his father burnt with Mr Bennet, though made no sign of giving up his inheritance of the house whenever Bennet dies, leaving Mrs Bennet and the girls homeless (or at least out of the only home they’ve ever known until they get married off). He’s also hinted at the ulterior motive for his visit with a few more compliments towards the girls than is demanded by regency society customs before heading off to dinner.

After dinner, Mr Bennet decides to try and build a rapport with him by bringing up the Reverend’s adored patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. This turns out to be his favourite subject, as he goes on for reams of 3rd-person-narrated text paying compliments to her every aspect, including her allowance of him neglecting his parish for weeks to visit relatives, her two invitations to dinner and especially her “condescension” (presumably he means her daring to speak with the lower classes with some semblance of dignity, which is pretty impressive for the time, I’d bet, but a low bar). Whether this woman actually shows up in the book, I don’t know, but I would love to see Collins platonically fawning over her before I deface this book into oblivion with my annotations.

He goes on to mention a young lady who I’m certain will make an appearance in later chapters - the Lady’s sole daughter, heir to Rosings Park. According to our very biased correspondent, she is the “most charming”, and “far superior” to other women when it comes to “true beauty” (which I now realise two weeks after last reading the chapter is probably referring to a kind personality). Unfortunately, she has such a “sickly constitution” that she hasn’t been able to keep up academically with her peers, nor had the chance to be presented like an item up for auction in the romantic flavour of court.

Admiring his cousin’s “talent of flattering with delicacy”, Bennet comes away from their tete-a-tete with the distinct impression that Collins is as “absurd” as can be, but makes sure to keep composure and engage as keenly as possible with him until tea-time.

Wrangled into doing a reading, Collins refuses to read something as lowly as a novel. No, he is eager to point out, but a big book of sermons will do. Surprisingly, Lydias finds his “monotonous” reading quite dry and interrupts with an update on her and (her apparently renamed for this chapter to avoid confusion with Lady Catherine) Kitty’s favourite soldiers. I’ve no idea why her Ladyship is so eager to let him go for weeks on end - he can sure get a crowd eating from the palm of his hand!

The Revered takes offence at this and goes on a little passive-aggressive whinge about how it’s written for their own good, and how much young people are in need of “instruction”, but vows to “no longer importune” the girls and offers their father a game of Backgammon, which could be a metaphor for something for all I know. What even is Backgammon? Is it like Draughts? A Card game? Something to do with Gammon? Who knows?

Anyway, the chapter closes out with Collins emphasising that he bears no ill will towards any of the Bennets at all while Mrs Bennet tries to assure him it won’t happen again. This situation feels familiar, but the roles are reversed. Interesting.

Thoughts

I listened to an audiobook of this chapter earlier. It was six minutes long. This piece took me 70 minutes to write (with a couple of cat-centric interruptions). Hm.

I guess Collins doesn’t outright reveal why he’s really visiting yet, but the dominoes are sure lining up.

Is Catherine Bennet going to be Kitty all the time from now on? Even in the narration?

For whatever reason, I have regained my passion for this text. Yay.

Thoughts? Feel free to give me feedback or recommendations based on this. I’m always happy to polish my prose. Come back next week for Chapter 15, where some stuff happens. I don’t know what. Probably something good, I’ll let you know.

3 notes · View notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride & Prejudice Chapter 13 - A Clergyman Calls

Each week, Catherine reads through an annotated chapter of Pride & Prejudice and shares her thoughts with the interweb until it’s done. Or until she gets sick of Jane Austen. Whichever comes first. This week : Chapter 13.

"I hate such false friends. Why could he not keep on quarelling with you, as his father did before him?"

After some time recovering from a cold, both myself and Jane are back at the Bennet household, where no time is spared in turning the entirety of the family’s attention to the impending arrival of their cousin William Collins, clergyman and heir to the Bennet home ahead of Mr Bennet’s daughters.

Naturally, Mrs Bennet isn't fond of the idea of her daughters mingling with the man destined to take their home, which is likely why her husband kept the letter from a man “whom [he] had never met” a secret when he received it a month ago and sent a reply two weeks ago.

Upon hearing of this, she does her best to blame him for allowing his distant relation to be entitled to the family estate, but changes her tune when she looks at the letter. We go on a brief epistolary route, where Collins reveals his deep desire to patch up the disagreement between his father and Mr Bennet, likely something to do with the inheritance of the house. At some point, Bennet felt willing to give this man of the cloth a chance and can be expected at four in the afternoon.

As they await his arrival, the family speculate on the nature of this man, so very eager to make amends with the family he has every intention of booting out once their father dies.

Jane wishes to give him the benefit of the doubt for trying to extend the olive branch, whereas Lizzy finds his writing pompous, likely due to the repeated references to his good friend Lady Catherine, and Mary decides to analyse the quality of the letter as if it wasn’t an actual correspondence that could affect the trajectory of her life. Catherine and Mary couldn't care less about the letter as it was highly unlikely their guest would come in the red coat of the military, as all those of any interest these days to them did.

Collins arrives on time and spends the first few hours in the company of the girls while Mr Bennet keeps quiet around the “tall, heavy looking man of five and twenty” at first. Following in the footsteps of so many men before him, he compliments Mrs Bennet for making such fine young ladies, and she does her best to nudge the topic towards the “grievous affair” that is his inheritance of the family home. He announces his intention to “admire” the girls of the house as a means of resolving that tricky matter, for reasons he will impart later on.

For now, his admiration turns to everything around him on his way to dinner, from the halls to the furniture, quite possibly mentally rearranging his own furniture around the place ahead of time as far as Mrs Bennet is concerned.

The chapter ends with him apologising as profusely as he can for daring to suggest that the Bennet sisters had to prepare dinner when they had a perfectly good chef in their employ. Not that Mrs Bennet was offended at all, but he is most eager to make a good impression on them.

Thoughts

I already know what Collins has in mind for his visit, but I still think he’s being a bit much.

I know it’s been a while, see my last post for context, but I’m hoping to finish the first “book” of P&P like this and take an official break before part two.

It is nice to get a break from Darcy and Bingley for a few chapters

In writing the above, I realised that I got Bingley and Bennet mixed up for the entirety of my article. That’ll teach me to finish things at 11pm.

Thoughts? Feel free to give me feedback or recommendations based on this. I’m always happy to polish my knowledge. Come back next week for Chapter 14, when Collins’s master-plan unfolds.

#pileofscraps #pride and prejudice #prideandprejudice #jane austen #mr darcy #elizabeth bennet #books #book review #classic literature #classic lit quotes #quotes #books & libraries #writing #analysis #classic academia #light academia #dark academia #weekly #blogs

2 notes · View notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride & Prejudice - 1 It Begins

Catherine reads through a chapter of Pride & Prejudice that she annotated and shares her thoughts with the interweb every week until it’s done. Or until she gets sick of Jane Austen. Whichever comes first. This week : Chapter 1.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

I promise I’m not going to read through the book with a fine-tooth comb, but seeing as this is one of the most prevalent opening lines to a tale in our culture, I hope you’ll forgive me if I delve into it before we get started.

To open a book with a definitive is a proven science; just look at the likes of “It was the best of time, it was the worst of times”, “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit”, and countless more. You can probably name a couple off the top of your head if you try. They set the stage and stick in the mind of the reader long after they’ve taken their eye off of it.

This particular definitive says that Pride and Prejudice is about the pursuit of a wife as a trophy of success in Victorian society, from the prospective wife’s perspective. This, in addition to the fact that the definitive sentence is swiftly proven to not be entirely definitive (more on that soon), says to me that this book written about marriage by someone who never got married might be satirical. Just a bit.

Anyway, our story begins with a Mrs.Bennet chewing the ear off of her beleaguered husband over the hottest news of the year - a Mr.Bingley is moving into Netherfield Park by Michaelmas⧫.

Through their strained interaction, Mr and Mrs.Bennet (no forenames given at this point) seem to serve as ciphers for Austen’s point : that arranged, societally-enforced marriage between two people may not be the best of ideas, especially after 23 years have run their course on Mrs.Bennet’s nerves (her old friends, her husband jibes), without her really understanding him.

Fortunately for the trees this book was printed on, Mr.Bennet is familiar enough with his wife’s ways to humour her hinting, but does not quite seem to grasp why a young man moving in down the road necessarily spells M-A-R-R-I-A-G-E for one of his five daughters, none of whom we actually see in this chapter..

“How can it affect them?”, he asks. The fool. Doesn’t he know that it is a truth universally acknowledged that young, rich men are looking for marriage at all times?

A back and forth follows where you have to wonder whether Bennet is actually as clueless as he acts, or if it is just his way of getting out of checking in on the neighbours, especially as he turns the talk to complement Mrs.Bennet with the prospect that Bingley will like her “best of the party.” with what I can only imagine to be fingers crossed behind his back.

Flattery appears to get him nowhere, as Mrs.Bennet can’t possibly say ‘hello’ herself. “It will be impossible for us to visit him, if you do not,” she tells him, for reasons presumably to do with the rigid and specific patriarchal role of the high-class man at the time. She is trying to get a daughter to enter a courtship with him, after all.

At the threat of Sir.William and Lady Lucas submitting their daughters for Bingley’s consideration ahead of the queue, Mr.Bennet concedes to his duty of giving his consent to whichever daughter of his Bingley wants, as well as pushing his favourite, Lizzy, into the spotlight.

Seeing as she is the first of the siblings to be mentioned, I assume she will be the primary protagonist, with her sisters (also mentioned are the “handsome” Lydia and the “good-humoured” Jane. I’ll call the other two Pinky and Perky until I get some names) forming meaningful character arcs around her own, all centred around winning some bloke’s hand in marriage. Riveting stuff, to be sure.

Thoughts

Wow

Pretty short chapter

I thought this was going to be a struggle, but maybe I just wasn’t ready for it last time

I like it

⧫ Michaelmas is a Christian festival traditionally celebrated on the 29th of September to mark the beginning of dark nights. This may be an omen of what is to come. I don’t know, I haven’t got that far yet.

If you liked what you read, let me know and consider donating to some fine charities as thanks. If you didn’t like it, let me know that too. I’m not in this for validation or anything. Come back next week for Chapter 2, where we actually meet the girls and learn their names.

4 notes · View notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride and Prejudice - 0

It was in the scorching days of August that I was speaking to a friend over the phone. Being fans of the written word, the conversation naturally turned to literature. To my horror, she told me that from time to time she would write in her books. On the pages themselves. For someone who always takes the utmost care to keep their books in pristine condition (and often fails), this was heresy of the highest order.

Little notes from yourself and little bits you had to look up every time otherwise, she explained, were chronicled in there forever. Although that made sense, I just couldn't bring myself to sully the leaves of a pulped tree.

A few months later, I had finally regained my reading pace and got through Mort by Terry Pratchett in a week, paltry compared to the month-and-a-half I spent pouring over Anne Frank's diary. I was too precious, was the problem. I always tried to pour over every word to make the novelty of reading something new last, which made reading any novel feel like I was taking on Dostoevsky's masterpiece.

What could I do to get myself through books faster? There were some that had been littering my shelf for years. Would I ever get through the Count of Monte Cristo? Or Great Expectations?

Or...my gorgeous hardcover of Pride and Prejudice?

I had received the book from a friend of the family for Christmas in 2018, and had given up on the classic in early 2019, the first time I had ever given up on a book. It wasn't that I didn't like it in some parts, having spent the majority of my reading time living vicariously through the ballroom exploits of Lizzy and co., but what I had found to be the dryness in some places proved too much. It had stopped my reading streak in its tracks, so I had to put it aside for greener pastures.

But now, in the year of 2020, I was a little older, a little wiser and ready to tackle Austen into the dirt. Admittedly, seeing the same friend get through the book in about a month around the same time was also a bit of a motivator, as was the hubris that a book filled with my inane thoughts would be an excellent gift.

I pulled it out of the back of the shelf, dusted it off, skimmed the pages, and left it to rot on my desk for the best part of December. The task of going back to the one book that had got the better of me proved to be more daunting than I expected. Day after day, "Annotate P&P C1" taunted me from my to-do list. It had bested me yet again.

But! This is not the end of the story.

On the night (well, early morning) of the 20th, I tossed and turned and wriggled and writhed in bed, utterly awake, yet utterly exhausted all at once. This is a rather common experience for me, don't shed any tears, but it gave me the push to finally make marks of graphite on my copy.

By the time chapter one was done, it was 2am and the pages were filled with little notes and analysis of the text. Being an English student can be useful from time to time. I was pleased to have finally got back into it, chronicling thoughts I'd had on Mr and Mrs Bennet's conversation after weeks of them popping up while skimming the next, finally a part of history.

In fact, I was so pleased with my work that I decided to pad out the website start a running feature turning my notes into little articles on here, an entry for each chapter should keep me motivated this time, and I'll stretch my reviewing muscles once it's done if I feel like it.

So, starting next week is a Pile of Scraps exclusive : Catherine waffling about the struggles of cottage-dwellers Chapter by Chapter in these central heated times.

5 notes · View notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride & Prejudice Chapter 9 - Turn Around, “Fine Eyes“

Each week, Catherine reads through an annotated chapter of Pride & Prejudice and shares her thoughts with the interweb until it’s done. Or until she gets sick of Jane Austen. Whichever comes first. This week : Chapter 9.

“Whatever I do is done in a hurry,” replied he.

Another day passes in the Bingley household, where Lizzy waits on her mildly ill sister Jane in the hopes of getting her to bond with the head of the house, Mr Charles Bingley.

This time, she sends a letter back home to their mother Mrs ‘Name Unknown’ Bennet to get her opinion on Jane’s situation. For the uninitiated, she was the one who hoped so fervently that Jane would have to stay at Netherfield Park when a downpour started, but did not imagine Jane would be caught in it and spend her time there solely in bed.

In any case, she turns up before Lizzy’s breakfast is done with two more of her daughters, presumably there either out of concern for Jane, or to make Mrs Bennet look like an excellent mother somehow. I do wonder how they got to Netherfield, and so quickly. If they took a carriage (and considering the amount of detail put into Lizzy’s walk there, I doubt they had a stroll), then I do wonder why Bingley doesn’t insist they take the bed bound girl home. Perhaps it’s one of those unspoken things, where each party plays by the arbitrary rules for an implied outcome, here being him and Jane growing closer, which is looking unlikely for the moment.

To her credit, Mrs Bennet is described as being “miserable” if she had discovered Jane in a terrible state, so she isn’t all that bad. She slips back into her false pretenses, thanking Jane’s having “such good friends” in the Ms Bingley’s, who have said nothing to her as far as I can tell in the last two days, with some really exaggerated and performative sympathy when out of Jane’s sight. They did give her a room, I suppose, but I feel it was Bingley’s choice more than theirs, what with it being his house.

Talk turns to him alluding to being somewhat unreliable when asked about the short lease on the house. If he decides to, he says, he would “be off in five minutes”. Since this is a romance novel, I doubt I’ll get my wish, but all signs point to Charles having something of a secret life from his business dealings to willingness to leave his home behind in minutes should he need to.

Lizzy chimes in with an admittedly more accurate assessment of him, and is revealed to be so utterly bored with her Regency-era life that intensely scrutinising the behaviours of the people around her is considered “wild”. When skimming through the chapter in advance, I assumed she had gone for a run at the very least. Consider me disappointed.

As ever, Darcy joins the conversation with a sneer aimed at those who live in the country and their low quantity of “intricate” and “amusing” characters. At least, that’s how Mrs Bennet, proud as ever, understood it. She counters by asserting that the “far pleasanter” countryside is full of oddballs and eccentrics on a par with those in the town, and how dare he say otherwise! With little luck, Lizzy points out that her mother misunderstood the good gentleman (My, how people change their minds on each other!) and asks if her friend Ms Lucas had been around if only to change the subject. The poor, naive fool. Nothing will stop Mrs Bennet from chatting about the ladies and gentlemen that surround her.

Nothing.

Here follows a little tirade on how Ms Charlotte had to leave early for what Mrs Bennet presumes to be doing the work of servants for the household, despite her father being a knight which I imagine comes with certain perks. She is 20, admittedly. No sooner does she put the entire Lucas family down as “plain” does she lift up her daughters, especially Jane. Even Mrs Lucas prefers Jane over her own children, she’ll have you know.

She brags that when “only fifteen” (looks like there is a line to even her quest to marry people off) a gentleman came around and took an interest in her. To her regret (Um... It was a different time, I guess?), this goes nowhere beyond a couple of sonnets written for Jane by the man, as was the way at the time. Lizzy blames the love failing thanks to a sonnet starving out the “thin sort of inclination”, though I blame it on the child not really being interested in the gentleman, even if she had been prepped to marry one like him.

The evening drags on and it’s time for Mrs Bennet to do the decorum dance with the Bingley’s where everyone is forced to get involved in thanking and apologising most profusely in an “unaffectedly civil” manner, as Austen puts it. Before they go back, one of the daughters that came with her, Lydia, demands Mr Bingley deliver on the ball he promised back when he moved in a few chapters ago. We learn that Lydia is apparently “a favourite” of her mother’s (Somewhere, Jane stirs in her sleep. She will not stand being usurped.), has “wild animal spirits”, whatever that means, that tend to draw a lot of attention to her. He assents gladly and we will presumably follow up on this in good time.

With the majority of the Bennets finally gone (Lizzy stays to keep watch over Jane), the Ms Bingleys are free to critique and pick apart their former guests behind their back. Mr Darcy declines to get involved, and receives a barb from them about Lizzy’s “fine eyes” as he confided in them about last time. Poor fellow.

Thoughts

If this was a bit short, it’s because I read it first on my phone, where you can’t exactly scribble random thoughts onto the page annotate it

Was Mary/Catherine left out of the visit...or did they not care about Jane?!

No character development today.

Is Darcy going to fall victim to this teasing for the rest of the volume?

Thoughts on the piece? Feel free to let me know what you think - the good, the bad... I’m open to any feedback. And come back next week for Chapter 10, where Jane gets up.

2 notes · View notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Housecleaning & Honesty - A little catch-up before I get back to the books.

Hi, hello, salut, hola, bonjour, and welcome back to my little corner (taking up approximately 0.00000000000000932%) of the internet. It’s been a while, did you get a haircut? I sure haven’t, but more on that in a minute.

I last posted about a month ago with one of the last chapters of Pride & Prejudice that I’d got to on my last read-through.

Fortunately, I didn’t go quiet because I abandoned the book again.

Unfortunately, I’ve been ill for a while and couldn’t string two good words together, so I regretfully put this hobbyist writing thing on hold until the day came that I felt well enough to get back to it.

That day is today. Sort of.

I’ve been meaning to write this up either as a prelude to the next P&P installment or as its own post (like this) for about two weeks, but I wanted to get it done and out there before I share anything else.

In other words - come next Tuesday, there will be a fresh P&P piece on this very page before the day is through. I’ll probably get on it in a minute. It’s a pretty good chapter, in all honesty.

Now, onto business of a self-promoting nature :

I worked on a short horror comic with Dan Yell a while back that’s finally seen the light of day in Tales from the Dispatch Vol. 2 (you can download it straight from their front page too).

The two of us were involved in the Swingin’ Sixties Anthology, which has finally launched today. I did a comic with Michael Scully about love and loss and fear and bravery and the sixties as a whole, as you do.

If you send proof you donated $5 or more to the W.H.O, they (me, if you go through IG or email) will send you the behind the scenes PDF, which is a load of excellent artwork. If you like my work, but wish there was less of me in it, it’s a dream come true.

I’ve also been running the Instagram account into the ground since July, so feel free to peruse that too.

So, two fine free PDFs there to fill up your hard drive. What else were you going to put on there, anyway? Actually, don’t answer that.

All that matters is that I wrote both of these stories about a year ago and though I’d like to think I’m a better writer now, I’m glad people can see where I was at, creatively speaking, in the early days of lockdown.

One other thing before I go - when I was setting up this blog thingie, I created an account on Instagram to support it, but what with the verbose writing style and me being busy enough trying to promote my comic work, I let it fall aside. I admit that the poems suited the format, but I think I’ll close it up and let my work speak for itself (um… in as much as I talk over it with asides like this, that is) for now.

Have a good evening or afternoon or morning, depending on your timezone, and fingers crossed this post gets fresh eyes on it.

1 note · View note

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

If You Can’t Stand the Heat...

"Miss, drop the lobster and put your hands in the air!"

In her time as a Station Chef at the Grand Bistro, Sarah had never seen anything like this.

It had begun much earlier, but as far as she was aware, the events of her morning were the cause. Her boss, Dave, had turned up late that day, clutching a large navy gym bag. His unpunctuality was a regular occurrence, so everyone duly nodded through his excuses about "apocalyptic traffic" (even though he walked to work) and his dry lecture on team spirit before he disappeared into his office. Everyone went back to their stations and refunds were given to the customers, whose meals had long since cooled. Murmurs rippled across the kitchen about Dave's behaviour, but no-one else seemed to have noticed that his gym bag seemed to shake a little on the ground during the speech.

Sarah kept her suspicions to herself during her shift, but couldn't help but go to Dave's office on her lunch break. She was the only one really qualified to handle fish, but she wanted to check in on Dave quickly. If anything happened to him, he would likely take the Bistro and its staff down with him. And anyway, Mike had taken a night class for fishing once, so he could probably be a passable poissonnier for her union-mandated ten minutes.

She knocked twice, then walked in. Three years of working for Dave had taught her to not rush in there the hard way. After Sarah pushed those embarrassing memories aside, she closed the door and could distinctly make out the sound of faint breathing coming from the bag, which was perched upon his dusty cross-trainer. A quick glance around gave her the confidence she needed to take a look. What was it? A puppy maybe?

She struggled to suppress a gasp when she realised what she was looking at. Whatever she had imagined, she had not once expected to see a baby chimpanzee inside. Small frail hands reached up to its face and delicate eyelids fluttered at the sound Sarah had cause when she had walked in.

Before she could act, Dave burst into the room. He whispered something, too quiet for Sarah to hear. She nodded, assuming it was friendly. As Dave's scowl came into focus, it became clear that she had been mistaken. He reached over, grabbed the bag and whispered "Don't say a word. I'll explain everything in a bit." while pointing petulantly at her with every syllable. Following that, he fled out of the office, leaving Sarah to her asthma. Would it kill him to dust?

Choked with both emotion and asthma, Sarah returned to her post and promptly pushed Mike out of the way. She tried to focus on her job, boiling lobsters for some gambler with an overinflated ego, but she couldn't help but worry about the baby chimp. Why was it in Dave's bag? Where had it come from? This kind of behavior is not exactly suited for a busy kitchen in a struggling Bistro and, inevitably, she walked into a silo of "Manderson's Mystery Meat".

It hadn't been there earlier, Sarah was sure. She glanced over the label, and was alarmed to discover that it had been shipped straight from the Congo Basin, which was hardly famed for its factories. The Head Chef was delighted to kick her out of the kitchen for a few minutes, so she used the time to look it up. It seemed to be a rainforest populated by Elephants, Bonobos and...Chimpanzees...

Just then, Dave ran up to her, still clutching the bag. "Hey ... didn't know where you were... I looked into the Mandersons... they were poaching Chester and his family" he panted, gesturing at the bag. "Found a warehouse full of them down the road, but I only managed to get Chester out. Manderson just rang, he called the police on me and it doesn't look too good. So just -- just try to slow them down while I make a break for it, will you? Oh, and you're all promoted or something I guess." And before she could ask anything, sirens drowned her out as he ran.

In times of crisis, little details, like how many lobsters you're holding, melt away. Could she just tell them? But as they pulled up, she saw Manderson behind them. And in that moment, Sarah knew that she would have to--

"Miss, drop the lobster and put your hands in the air!"

The above story was written about a year ago with the intent to submit it to the Wicked Young Writer’s Anthology. Naturally, The Plague happened, so it got cancelled and this has been sitting in my archives ever since. Thoughts and feedback are always welcome, and make sure to come back tomorrow for a summary of the next chapter of Pride and Prejudice.

2 notes · View notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Text

Pride & Prejudice - Chapter 7 : Careful What You Wish For...

Each week, Catherine reads through an annotated chapter of Pride & Prejudice and shares her thoughts with the interweb until it’s done. Or until she gets sick of Jane Austen. Whichever comes first. This week : Chapter 7.

‘Oh! I am not at all afraid of her dying. People do not die of little trifling colds.’

Last time, we saw Mr Darcy (no first name given) develop some non-detestable feelings towards Lizzy at yet another party, but her distaste for him is made clear when she refuses a dance he offered at Sir Lucas’ (first name given, strangely) behest.

Today, Austen chooses to open the chapter highlighting how simply being a woman at the time of the book locks the girls out of getting a penny of their father’s inheritance when the time comes, with it all going to some distant male relative. This is one of the few times so far that Austen has used the third-person narration to be so overt in discussing her themes. Personally, I’m all for it.

For whatever reason, we completely pivot from the politics and the Darcy-Lizzy-Bingley-Jane plot-line to focus on the younger Bennet sisters - Catherine and Lydia - as they make their way to their mother’s sister for what might be the third time that week. With so little to do with themselves, this mundane experience has been an education for the duo as Mr Phillips (their uncle) often paid visits to soldiers. The sight of these men appears to have flipped a switch in the two of them, as they are described as effusing with words on the soldiers. Whether this is the product of a potent respect for the military or a crush on poor Captain Carter, I’m not too sure, but since everything in their lives is about the pursuit of a husband, I’m inclined to say the latter.

In any case, this constant chatter of captains proves a little tiresome for Mr Bennet, and Mr Bennet’s chatter about his daughters’ chatter proves tiresome for Mrs Bennet. If you’re new to this series, let me reiterate my point on these two being ciphers for the unhappiness of married life for the upper-class couples Austen was familiar with at the time. First, they do not have names, not even Mrs Bennet, which is unusual considering almost every woman in the story has one. Second, whenever the two of them are sharing a room, page or paragraph, they argue. He seems to be amused by it all, but she is constantly at the peak of frustration for her husband’s far from inappropriate behaviour.

She flatters the two of them in the hopes of shutting him up and proceeds to dominate the conversation with talk of how good all the girls’ “silly” chatter would be if it led to them getting a rich colonel as a husband. This woman has one job and she is quite determined to always be doing it. Catherine and Lydia thus try to turn the chat back to fixating on the soldier’s personal lives, remarking on how some of them seem to almost be hiding from the girls in their host’s library.

Funny, that.

Before the conversation can be mangled by further topic management, a letter arrives at the house, taking us on an epistolary trip. Did I say we were pivoting away from the main plot today? I lied : the letter is an invitation for Jane from Bingley’s sister, who has taken quite a shine to her. The family argues on whether Jane will take a horse (nature’s bicycle) or a carriage, but since the horses are busy working on the farm I presume the Bennet’s use for paying their upkeep, she takes a lone horse for the journey. Mrs Bennet prays for rain to strand her child there so she and Mr Bingley can grow closer, closer, closer still…

Wouldn’t you know it? It rained.

Before the Bennet matriarch can cartwheel off the walls the next day, a servant arrives with a letter. This one is from Jane and gives the sad news that she got caught in the rain and will have to stay in bed at the manor for a few days, with the doctor coming to check on her soon.

As Mrs B frets about carriages and Mr B gamely points the finger at her, Lizzy, our protagonist, enters the fray and decides to do an altogether protagonist-y thing - going to Netherfield on foot, with the two youngest sisters accompanying her for the first leg. There’s probably a lesson here about ounces of prevention and pounds of cure, but it’s not like the farm needed those four around anyway.

The three reach Merryton and two part to meet the wives of their favourite officers, which is weird under my preferred reading of their thoughts on Captain Carter, but does give some weight to them just being obsessed with the military in a more platonic way. Lizzy goes on to reach Netherfield “weary ancles*, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.”

Now, this journey would be a bit much for Jane to make in her condition, but I do wonder how the servant delivered the letter, and why he couldn’t wait for Lizzy if he took a carriage, which is probable considering his clothes were not given such detail.

In the house, Lizzy is met with envious spite from Bingley’s sisters for her troubles, silent judgement from Mr Darcying Darcy himself (does he have a life or house of his own?), and dull ignorance from a Mr Hurst, who’s still having breakfast. After a little effort, she convinces the household to let her check on Jane, who is in a “feverish” state, afflicted with “a violent cold” according to the doctor. What a lot of melodrama for a sniff! Of course, I’m forgetting that medicine at the time is not what it is today, but even Mrs Bennet didn’t assume the worst when she heard!

Many hours later, Lizzy and Jane engage in a little game of etiquette. The aim is to convince the other person that you do want what you most sincerely do not (going back home, in Lizzy’s case), while they make a show of supporting her choice while nudging you to what you really want. Jane wins, and Lizzy stays the night at the manor, with a servant sent back home to get her things, which makes me question why they don’t just shove Jane in a carriage and send her back home if they’re so close to each other. She can’t exactly charm Mr Bingley while coughing up phlegm, and she isn’t in a fragile state - it’s a cold!

Thoughts

I remember this chapter quite well from the last time I tried P&P

So much drama over a cold! She could get home in an hour by foot!

Mr Darcy is in the book even when he isn’t significant to the plot. He is truly omnipresent.

Good contrast between him and Hurst, whoever that is.

Will the girls’ obsession with soldiers will go anywhere?

* : I do not know whether ‘ancles’ is an archaic spelling of the word, or simply a spelling error in my edition, but just wanted to point out that it’s completely intentional for the eagle-eyed amongst you.

If you liked what you read, don’t be afraid to tell me, or anyone you think would like it. Maybe grab a copy from World of Books or something to read along with. Quite a few to choose from. If you didn’t like it, let me know that too. I’m not in this for validation or anything. Come back next week for Chapter 8, where Mr Bingley finally shows up in his own house.

1 note · View note

citrusityy · 3 years

Photo

Breathe Cold air rushes in Flows through the lungs to the heart Warm air trickles out _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Haiku by Catherine Broxton (@pileofscrapsonig) ❄️Tumblr link in Bio❄️ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ #poems #poetry #poets #poetsoninstagram #instagram #tumblr #nature #relax #chill #takeabreak #breath #breathe #cold #coldoutside #winter #winterpoetry #nature #nye #naturepoems #finalone #pileofscraps #pileofscrapsthursday #feedbackwelcome #youngwriters https://www.instagram.com/p/CJebp2Mnm9m/?igshid=64osd1pizmu7

1 note · View note

citrusityy · 3 years

Photo

Winter Heat melts into the cold Ice crawls up the rusty panes Remnants of a world _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Haiku by Catherine Broxton (@pileofscrapsonig) ❄️Tumblr link in Bio❄️ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ #poems #poetry #poets #poetsoninstagram #instagram #tumblr #nature #season #winter #winterpoetry #newyearseve #nye #nyepoem #endof2020! #seasonalpoems #naturepoems #naturepoetry #pileofscraps #pileofscrapsthursday #linkinbio #followsharelike #moretocome #youngpoets https://www.instagram.com/p/CJea6dDHGUm/?igshid=auih6v15w6qs

0 notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Photo

Second A moment in time Frozen in perfect amber Endless, then complete _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Haiku by Catherine Broxton (@pileofscrapsonig/ Tumblr in Bio) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ #poems #poetry #poets #poetsoninstagram #instagram #tumblr #nature #time #second #freezeframe #momentintime #haikus #haiku #linkinbio #followsharelike #moretocome #pileofscrapsthursday #pileofscraps #feedbackwelcome #youngwriters #youngpoets https://www.instagram.com/p/CJeaKw6n4Mv/?igshid=1uwdchyz885nv

0 notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Photo

Presenting : three wintery and winter-adjacent haikus I wrote sometime in the Summer for a competition. Why I wrote such cold-centric poetry on the hottest days of the year, I'm not quite sure, but here they are on @pileofscrapsonig and @tumblr (❄️Link in Bio❄️) for your NYE perusal. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Also, consider this the start of a regular Thursday posting schedule of... something. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ #poems #poetry #poets #poetsoninstagram #instagram #tumblr #announcement #nature #haikus #winter #winterpoetry #linkinbio #naturepoetry #snowflakes #peaceful #waitandsee #pileofscrapsthursday #pileofscraps #lgbtwriters #youngwriters #youngpoets #probablyenoughtags https://www.instagram.com/p/CJeZt6aHIZy/?igshid=1164po5j61zh1

0 notes

citrusityy · 3 years

Photo

Currently Reading @pileofscrapsonig Embed With Video Games by Cara Ellison - a compilation of global gonzo journalism in the world of independent game makers. Discovered a lot of great things through it already. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - some old novel you might have heard of. You can see my thoughts on Chapters 1 and 2 so far and check out on Tumblr (📖LINK IN BIO📖). Please Don't Step on my JNCO Jeans by Noah Van Sciver - collection of the cartoonist's fairly recent newspaper comics with a few new ones thrown in. Funny stuff. Of course, I'm already covering P&P, but I might do a mini review on the other two once they're finished. I'll see if I have the time Thoughts on these books? Recommendations? I'm always happy to add to my towering to-read pile, so don't be shy about saying some. #prideandprejudice #janeausten #prideandprejudicetumblr #tumblr #books #academia #darkacademia #lightacademia #classiclit #classicliretature #currentlyreading #bookcovers #aesthetic #fantagrahics #noahvansciver #comiccovers #readmorecomics #indiecomics #gonzojournalism #videogames #actionbutton #videogamebooks #caraellison #comicstrips #graphicnovels #blogging #blogsoninstagram #bookblog #pileofscraps #bookrecs https://www.instagram.com/p/CKcpPcvHn9m/?igshid=1g3ewado3ulhf

0 notes