Love is like a Paperclip.

The first thing that people seem to ask me, when I tell them I’m reading Pride and Prejudice, is what it is about. The majority of them recognize the name, but know of it only for being a romance novel. I disagree. I don’t view Jane Austen’s novel to be the modern day’s romance novel. In the recent “romance novels” that I have read, the plotline revolves purely around those in the relationship, and the troubles relating to it. Pride and Prejudice does not follow these restrictions in the slightest. The relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy is the cause of many realizations to come, but the novel continues to explore these realizations past the points that directly relate to their romance. It’s almost insulting to call this novel a romance novel, because it’s so much more than that. It’s about the issues of social rank, of women needing to marry to have a place in society. It’s about ridiculous people, about personalities that simply cannot change, and some that can. It’s about being wrong: and being sensible enough to admit it. It’s about realizing that people aren’t perfect. It’s about incompatibility: the struggles that couples cause and face when their marriage is hasty and ill-thought out. It’s about misunderstandings and they hurt they cause. And most of all, it’s a story about pride and prejudice. It’s a story that happens to tie together its loose ends through marriage, and so, has been misnamed as a romance novel. But Microsoft word is not a paper clip that states the obvious. It simply happens to involve one; an aspect that may or may not be helpful at the time. I equate this concept with the relationship that is formed between Lizzy and Darcy. It is there, it often causes problems, but it also has the piece of useful information that just may be the realization you need to find your happiness: or finish a project.