Becoming Jane

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SummaryThe story, set in 1795, is about young Jane Austen, the world-renowned English novelist, before she became well-known. It is loosely based on the few known facts about her life. She wishes to become a writer and dreams of marrying for love.

Chapter 1: Jane Austen is twenty years old. She is living with her family at a rectory in a small country village in Hampshire. Mr Austen is a rector. Jane’s older sister Cassandra’s future husband Robert Fowle and Jane’s aristocratic widowed cousin Eliza de Feuillide are there as well. One Sunday, they visit their rich aristocratic neighbour Lady Gresham after church. Mrs Austen thinks Mr Wisley, Lady Gresham’s favourite nephew, is a prospective match for Jane.

Chapter 2: Tom Lefroy is boxing at a men’s club in London. He meets up with Jane’s brother Henry Austen and his friend John Warren there. Both Henry and John are heading to Hampshire as Mr Austen is preparing positions in the Church for them. Tom is a law student in London and he depends financially on his uncle Judge Langlois. Tom has a bad reputation, so Judge Langlois is sending him to his other relatives in Hampshire for the summer.

Chapter 3: At the rectory, the girls are getting ready for the evening. Guests are invited as Henry is coming home. Cassandra is worried that Robert may forget about her because soon he will be going to West Indies. Mr Wisley pays a visit, and attempts to propose marriage to Jane. Jane avoids the topic by running to meet Henry as his coach arrives.

Chapter 4: In the evening, family, friends and neighbours get together. The Lefroys, the Austens’ neighbours,

are also there, but Tom arrives late. Mr Austen makes a speech about Henry’s return and Cassandra’s future visit to her brother Edward and his wife to help them when their child is born. Jane reads one of her stories of two young people who had to wait for their marriage. Obviously it’s about Cassandra and Robert. Tom thinks the story is childish, and this upsets Jane.

Chapter 5: Tom sees Jane in the forest. Jane is still offended about Tom’s comment on her writing. Tom suggests she read his favourite book, The History of Tom Jones. Tom thinks Jane is an interesting young woman.

Chapter 6: At Basingstoke Dance, Mr Wisley steps on Jane’s foot. Jane dances with Tom three times rather than only twice. Henry warns Jane about Tom’s reputation.

Chapter 7: Jane meets up with Tom at a country fair. Mrs Austen doesn’t think Tom is a suitable husband for he will not be able to provide well for the family.

Chapter 8: Mr Wisley finally has a chance to propose to Jane, but she tells him she can’t marry without love. Jane’s parents think love is desirable but money is indispensable. Lady Gresham also insists that Jane should accept the proposal at once. Jane learns that Tom’s feelings for her are also very strong.

Chapter 9: Eliza conspires to visit Tom’s uncle in London: The Comtesse de Feuillide and ‘her cousins’ are visiting Jane’s brother, Edward, and planning to stop in London on the way there. In this way, Tom can introduce Jane to Judge Langlois in order to get his blessing for their marriage. In London Jane starts to write a story, which later becomes Pride and Prejudice.

Chapter 10: The Judge receives a letter saying that Jane is from a poor family. He doesn’t want them to marry. Jane insists that they can still marry, but Tom says he has a family to think about. Heartbroken, Jane leaves London.

Chapter 11: Jane comes back home with her sister Cassandra. During the dinner at Lady Gresham’s, a messenger arrives with the news of Robert’s death. Jane learns that Tom is now engaged to a rich young lady from Ireland. Both girls are devastated. Jane accepts Mr Wisley’s proposal.

Chapter 12: Tom comes to offer Jane an explanation. He asks her to elope with him, and she agrees.

Chapter 13: After leaving Hampshire with Tom, Jane happens to learn that Tom’s parents, brothers and sisters depend on Tom’s allowance to survive. Jane ends her affair with him and comes back home.

Sarah Williams and Kevin Wood

Becoming Jane

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Chapter 14: Jane finds out that John Warren is the one who wrote a letter to the Judge. Mr Wisley withdraws his marriage proposal amicably. Jane’s family is very supportive. She continues writing Pride and Prejudice.

Chapter 15: Twenty years later, Jane encounters Tom at a social function. Henry invites him to a dinner party at Henry and Eliza’s house (they are married). Tom is late as ever. Tom introduces his oldest daughter, whose name is Jane. She asks Jane to read at the party, and Jane reads the story of Pride and Prejudice.

Background and themes

Becoming Jane is a story from a film of the same name. The film was directed by Julian Jarrold and starred Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen and James McAvoy as Tom Lefroy. Although some of the things aren’t historically correct, each character is a person who actually existed.

Jane Austen: She is a much-loved English novelist. Born in 1775 in the Hampshire countryside, she was the seventh child in a family of eight. Her father was a rector. Austen started writing as a young teenager. She fell in love with a young man (it is believed that this man is Tom Lefroy), but as both of them were penniless, they weren’t allowed to marry. There is, however, no evidence that they attempted to elope or that they encountered each other years later. At the end of this story Jane gives a public reading, but this must have been very rare as she was published anonymously until her death. Austen wrote six major novels. Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816) were published during her lifetime, and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published in 1818 after her death.

Tom Lefroy: Thomas Langlois Lefroy was an Irish politician and judge. He was the eldest son of the Lefroy family. His great uncle Benjamin Langlois was his family’s benefactor. He became the Chief Justice of Ireland in 1852. Scholars believe that he was the one Jane Austen fell in love with when she was young.

Pride and Prejudice: It is said that Tom Lefroy is the inspiration for Mr Darcy in one of Austen’s most beloved novels Pride and Prejudice. It’s a story about a young woman called Elizabeth Bennet, who learns to love Mr Darcy although her first impressions of Mr Darcy were false. Pride and Prejudice is available as a Pearson English Reader.

Marriage with or without love: Young women in Jane Austen’s era were searching for a wealthy husband of good birth to secure their future social standing. Marrying a poor man for love was unthinkable then. In this story

young Jane Austen pursues the idea of marriage for love, but in the end she was never married.

Lifestyle of middle and upper-middle classes: From this story you can get a glimpse of social life for middle and upper-middle classes in England in the early nineteenth century, such as formal visiting and dance parties. Women were not supposed to talk with men if they hadn’t been introduced. In addition, an unmarried woman couldn’t travel alone.

Discussion activities

Chapters 1–3Before reading1 Discuss: Talk about the book cover. Ask students to

look at the picture on the front cover. Have students work in pairs to ask and answer the following questions: What can you see? Where do you think the story takes place? Do you think the story is about the past or present time? What do you think the story is about? Why do you think so?

2 Research: Have students collect information on Jane Austen and one of her novels, Pride and Prejudice. Put students into small groups. Students can use the Internet and library. Later in class, ask each group to share their findings with the rest of the class.

After reading3 Write and retell: Put students into pairs or small

groups. Assign a different chapter to each group, and have them write a short paragraph to explain what is happening in the chapter. When they are ready, ask them to read out their paragraphs to recount the story.

4 Discuss: Talk about marriage. Have students work in small groups to discuss the followings: In Chapter 3 it says ‘She knew she had to get married. It was her duty to her family’. Do you think it is a duty to get married these days? What do you think if you have to get married for your family?

5 Role play: Put students into pairs. Have them role play the following situation:

Student A: You are Eliza de Feuillide. You became a rich aristocrat by marriage, but you really wanted a marriage with love. Give Jane Austen some advice.

Student B: You are Jane Austen. Tell Eliza what Mrs Austen says about marriage and Mr Wisley. Tell her your true feelings on marriage. Ask her for advice.

Chapters 4–6Before reading6 Write: Have students work in pairs. Ask them to

think of the words for Mr Wisley’s marriage proposal. Mr Wisley couldn’t finish his important talk with Jane because Henry’s coach arrived. What if Henry didn’t arrive then and he had time to finish? He started

Becoming Jane

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off by saying, ‘Miss Austen, you are an interesting young lady; you are exciting and so full of life.’ Work with your partner and finish his talk. They can share their answers with the rest of the students later in class.

After reading7 Discuss: Have a whole-class discussion by saying,

Just imagine yourself in Cassandra’s situation and that your boyfriend or girlfriend has to go away for a time. What do you think you will do while you are far apart? Think of the situations at the present time and in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

8 Read carefully: Remind students that Jane says dances are very important to life in the country. Put students into small groups, and have them read the Basingstoke Dance part of the story again. What do people do at the dance? Why do you think dances are very important to life in the country? Later ask groups to share their opinions with the rest of the class.

9 Discuss: Put students into pairs. Have them discuss the following questions:

a How does Jane feel about Tom during the special evening?

b Why does Jane act like she does in the forest when she sees Tom?

c What does Jane think of Tom at the beginning of the night of the Basingstoke Dance?

d Why do you think Jane danced with Tom three times?

e Why do you think she reads Tom’s favourite book The History of Tom Jones?

Chapters 7–9Before reading10 Discuss: Write the names of the following characters

on the board: Jane Austen, Mr Austen, Mrs Austen, Cassandra, Robert Fowle, Eliza de Feuillide, Lady Gresham, Mr Wisley, Tom Lefroy, Henry Austen, John Warren, Judge Langlois, Mr Lefroy, Mrs Lefroy and Lucy Lefroy. Put students into small groups, and have them discuss the following questions: Who are these people? What is their relationship to each other? Ask them to write notes, and they can compare their answers later in class.

After reading11 Discuss: Remind students that dances are very

important to life in the country because young people can be close to each other and have a conversation without being heard (activity 8). Have students think what is equivalent for young people today. Have a whole-class discussion.

12 Role play: Have students work in small groups in order to act out the scene of Mr Wisley’s marriage proposal to Jane. Give students sufficient time to practise acting out. The remaining group members can direct their friends’ acting. Later ask students to act out the scene in front of the class.

Chapters 10–12Before reading13 Understand and predict: Have a whole-class

discussion by asking the following questions: a What happened between Mr Wisley and Jane? b How does Jane feel about Tom? c How does Tom feel about Jane? Then ask students to guess which of the following will

happen later in the story: d Jane will refuse Mr Wisley’s offer. e Jane will marry Tom. f Jane will marry Mr Wisley. g Jane will never marry. h Lucy will marry Tom. i Cassandra will marry Robert. j Eliza will marry Henry.

After reading14 Research: Bring in a map of England and have

students find where Hampshire, London and Scotland are. Put students into small groups. Considering that there were no cars, trains or aeroplanes then, have students discuss how hard the journey could be. How do they travel? How long do you think it takes to go to London from Hampshire? What about from London to Scotland?

15 Retell: Have students look at the pictures on pages vi, 3, 7, 19, 29 and 36. Divide the class into five groups or put students into small groups, and assign one picture to each group. Have groups describe the picture and explain what happened beforehand and afterwards in the story.

Chapters 13–15Before reading16 Guess: Get students to predict what will happen at

the end of the story. Have students work in pairs to discuss the following questions: Do you think Jane will run away with Tom successfully? Will her family ever find her again? Will Jane be happy? What do you think? Ask them to write notes on what they think will happen, and have them keep their notes for later.

After reading17 Check: Have students go back to their notes from

Activity 16 and check if they were right or not. If not, ask them to report how differently the story ends.

18 Discuss: Have a whole class discussion by asking the following questions: Do you think the last chapter is important? Do you think the story can end without the last chapter? In history, there is no clear evidence that Jane and Tom met twenty years later. Does that matter to you?