Practice Makes Perfect

Making friends is, like playing music, not just a matter of natural talent.

1813

Introduction

Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam have been teasing the Colonel’s cousin, Mr Darcy, about his stiff and awkward behaviour in company. Mr Darcy claims he cannot help it, but Elizabeth is having none of that.

by Jane Austen 1775-1817

by Jane Austen (1775-1817)

“I CERTAINLY have not the talent which some people possess,” said Darcy, “of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.”

“My fingers,” said Elizabeth, “do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women’s do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault — because I will not take the trouble of practising. It is not that I do not believe my fingers as capable as any other woman’s of superior execution.”

Darcy smiled and said, “You are perfectly right. You have employed your time much better. No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you can think anything wanting. We neither of us perform to strangers.”

by Jane Austen 1775-1817

by Jane Austen (1775-1817)

From Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1775-1817).

Précis

Mr Darcy excused his haughty manner in company as a natural lack of social skill. Elizabeth Bennet, however, seated at the piano, reminded him that just as practice largely makes up for a lack of natural talent in music, so too good social graces can be acquired by anyone willing to take the trouble.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate her ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What excuse does Darcy plead for his brusque manner in company?

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Mr Darcy appeared haughty. He claimed he could not make small-talk.