Waiting Together: Pride and Prejudice

In the excerpt “Waiting Together: Pride and Prejudice”, written by Nina Auerbach, the main thesis pertains to the lack of significant societal roles played by women. The women’s primary role, and only, is to find a man with money and get married. Auerbach makes it apparent that she disagrees with the novels depiction of a woman’s dependence on a man for everything through marriage. When discussing the subject matter, Auerbach states, “waiting for the entrance of gentlemen, their shared world is a limbo of suspension and suspense, which cannot take shape until it is given one by the opening of the door” (Auerbach 327). Auerbach is relating to the dance gatherings, where men meet potential spouses, asking to dance with the ones they are attracted to. Decreeing that their world is a limbo of suspension and suspense until the man walks through the door signifies Auerbach’s idea that a women lives only for the purpose of marriage. She has a feminist view on unequal worth of a man’s life compared to a woman’s in all aspects, including, land inheritance, intelligence, and prominence in the family.