…showed first 75 words of 1156 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1156 total…powerful influence over social life. The weapon that Jane Austen employs against its suffocating effects is that of irony which is all the more telling for its gentle mockery. At a time when women had no political or financial individuality, she shows how the powerless can influence and migrate the more soul-destroying aspects of female impotence. It must be remembered that Austen wrote solely from personal experience, and this authenticity makes her insights perennially valid.