Outside Reading Post 3

The book Sense and Sensibility is both similar and different from books we've read in class. In many ways it is similar to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in that the characters are searching for self discovery. The girls in Sense and Sensibility finally find that family is their number one priority and they need each other despite their differences. Both girls end up having separate lives, but will always stay true to each other, holding on to their true identity. This is shown in the last paragraph of the novel. Austen writes, "Between Barton and Delaford, there was that constant communication which strong family affection would naturally dictate;—and among the merits and the happiness of Elinor and Marianne, let it not be ranked as the least considerable, that though sisters, and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husbands. "(336) Oskar is also searching for his values and identity in society and finds that family is an important value to him as well. In the end however, there are also different in many ways. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close deals with a major theme of overcoming tragedy which is also in Sense and Sensibility but not quite as much Also, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close uses visual images and multiple narrators which Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close does not.


The book Sense and Sensibility also has similarities and differences to the novel Black Boy. The novels are similar because they both deal with ideas of independence. In Sense and Sensibility the girls are gaining independence by growing up and finding their place in society and Richard gains independence by rebelling. Marianne’s independence is shown when Jane Austen says, "Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract, by her conduct, her most favorite maxims. She was born to overcome an affection formed so late in life as at seventeen, and with no sentiment superior to strong esteem and lively friendship, voluntarily to give her hand to another!—and THAT other, a man who had suffered no less than herself under the event of a former attachment, whom, two years before, she had considered too old to be married,—and who still sought the constitutional safeguard of a flannel waistcoat! " (334). Marianne learns good sense throughout the novel as well as independence from what had consumed her life. The books are different because they also have different themes. Black Boy also deals with the issue of racism.