Gender roles in eighteenth-century Britain were followed by most. In Persuasion, a novel by Jane Austen, and in A Sentimental Journey, a novel by Lawrence Sterne, the gender roles are broken and the characters in both of the novels act as they please. Most of the characters still follow their expected gender roles pretty closely, but when it comes to the main characters they break the gender roles mold and act as they please.Women in Jane Austen novels tend to be more direct and stand up for what they believe in. In Sterne’s novels the male character’s sometimes tend to think things through and second guess themselves a lot more than they are expected to. In both novels the main characters sometimes tend to act out of their expected gender roles. This is shown throughout the novels in different styles. Austen uses free indirect discourse in order to show both the narrators and the characters points of view. Sterne uses the first person narrative to show the readers Yorik’s inner thoughts.Each of the different styles used allows the author to show the characters change in their expected gender roles.

In Austen’s novel, Persuasion, and Sterne’s novel, Sentimental Journey, both of the characters are having trouble making a decision. The passages that I have chosen were when Anne is trying to decide whether she wants to go see Captain Wentworth and when Yorik is trying to decide whether or not it is a good idea to invite Lady L into his carriage with him. Both characters first think things through and come up with reasons not to do it but in the end they always decide to just go ahead and listen to their first instincts and ignore the other thoughts.

            Different methods are used to get the characters thoughts across though. In Austen’s novel, Austen uses free indirect discourse to show the confusion Anne is going through. Anne is trying to go outside “to see if it rained. Why was she to suspect herself of another motive?” (Persuasion 129). We see Anne trying to make the decision by talking herself through it. Through free indirect discourse Austen is able to allow Anne to have the conversation with herself while also criticizing her for thinking this way. Anne wants to go outside just to see Captain Wentworth and catch him off guard but does not want to make it seem too obvious so she tells herself she is going out to see if it has rained or not. She is being made fun of by the narrator because the narrator believes that Anne should not be so weak and have to lie to herself in order to not seem like a young love sick girl.  

            Sterne uses the first person narrative in order to get his point across. In this passage Yorik is trying to decide whether or not it would be a good idea to invite Lady L. His first thought is to invite her but then his whole thinking process makes him second guess himself. He is telling himself that he knows “what scrapes the affair may draw [him] into,” or “You can never after…shew your face in the world,” (Sterne 19). He thinks this through but yet still ends up coming to the conclusion that he should take her with him.

Both narrators use two different methods in order to get their point across that both of their main characters have trouble making decisions and have think things through in order to finally decide what to do. Anne finally decides to go out and check the weather, while Yorik goes through the whole thought process only to decide to listen to his gut and ask her to go with him.

Once Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth realize their love for each other is still there, the narrator describes their interaction in the street. They both “exchanged again those feelings and those promises, which had once before seemed to secure everything,” (Austen 116). Anne and Captain Wentworth are both transported into the past. We know this is true because of the phrases “those feelings,” “those promises,” and “once before,” (116). By using these particular words, those and once before, the readers can see Anne and captain Wentworth being transported into the past and recovering their relationship. We see uncertainty when the narrator mentions that Anne and Captain Wentworth are “more exquisitely happy, perhaps, in their re-union, than when it had first been projected” (116).  The uncertainty here is the fact that it seems as though they are both happier now than when they were first together. This happiness can be because they now know that things will end up better and they can live happy and fulfilled lives with each other now. Their relationship will no longer be meddled in because Captain Wentworth proved himself to be a man of honor.

Others interpret this uncertainty differently though. In the essay “Doubleness and Refrain in Jane Austen’s Persuasion,” written by Cheryl Ann Weissman, Weissman believes that the uncertainty felt by the narrator stems from the fact that Anne is still dwelling on the past and the bad advice she took from Lady Russell. She believes it to have been a good decision at the time as is glad she listened to her. Weissman focuses on the relationships past and not the future of the relationship. The characters did seem to travel to the past, but that was only to recover their love. The narrator begins to describe the strangers passing by so that we can see that they are blending into the background and slowly making their relationship a normal occurrence. They become isolated as a couple and look forward to their time together and forget about the past.

Jane Austen tends to use free indirect discourse throughout her novel Persuasion. An example of this is the passage when she describes Sir Walters’ daughters. When she says “For one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up any thing,” this is an example of free indirect discourse because Sir Walter is the one describing Elizabeth, his eldest daughter. We can tell because while describing her he mentions things the fact that she is “very handsome and very much like himself.” Only he would say this about her because he believes all these things about himself as well. We can also tell that the narrator is being sarcastic and cynical towards them in the description. This is because the narrator is more judgmental of the two. Another example of free indirect discourse in this passage is when he describes his other two daughters as “very inferior value.” We can tell Sir Walter is thinking this because he does not feel the same way with his other two daughters like he feels towards Elizabeth. When describing Anne though we can tell that Lady Russell is the one thinking that Anne is “nobody with either father or sister: her word had no weigh.” We can tell that Lady Russell is the one describing Anne because in the next paragraph it mentions that Lady Russell thought of her as “a most dear and highly valued daughter, favorite and friend.” Lady Russell notices how she is treated by the others but disagrees with them and believes that Anne is the one in which she could “fancy the mother to revive again.” The examples of free indirect show how the characters feel about each other. We see that Sir Walter loves Elizabeth dearly and thinks very highly of her while on the other hand he feels like his younger daughters have lesser value. We can also see that Lady Russell is the one describing Anne in the second part of the paragraph because she, unlike Sir Walter, thinks very highly of her. She also notices how she is treated by her father as opposed to her other sisters who are a bit more loved by their father. By having Sir Walter describe his daughters in the first half of the paragraph we can also see that the narrator is being sarcastic and ironic because she thinks that he is very vain and too into himself. This is why he describes Elizabeth like he did.

In William Wordsworth poem “Nun’s Fret Not,” Wordsworth’s main motif is his wish to feel free and not bound to an everyday day routine like others tend to normally do. However, he realizes that being bound is not always such a bad thing.

            In the first paragraph of my second blog, I support this thesis by describing the different places different people are bound to. He describes the “convents narrow room,” the cells and the citadels. All three of these characters are bound to the places physically. This is where they belong. The maids, weaver and bees are all bound to physical places also known as their “jobs.” They escape when they are done working but are also bound because they cannot leave the place they belong to. When he notices that the bees fly to the foxglove bells, a beautiful and peaceful place, he realizes that being bound and forced to do the same thing time and time again is not always such a bad thing.

            In the second paragraph of my blog post, I support this thesis by noticing that Wordsworth is now analyzing his own life as a writer and poet. He feels as though being a writer allows him to be free and express himself. Wordsworth mentions that he likes the sonnet form because it gives him some sort of confinement while not making him feel completely bound to it. The sonnet form allows him to find comfort when he feels completely isolated and alone. In the end Wordsworth realizes that sometimes it is fine to have some sort of confinement so that he can express himself while not being forever bound to it only when he feels like it is needed.

In William Wordsworth’s poem, “Nuns Fret Not,” Wordsworth’s main motif is his wish to feel free and not bound to an everyday day routine like others tend to do. In the first half of the sonnet Wordsworth describes the physical places some people are bound to. The Nuns are bound to “their convent’s narrow room,” the hermits to their cells and the students at the citadels. What all of these characters have in common is that the places that they are all confined to are physical places that are all narrow and small. The maids, weaver and bees are not confined to a physical place but are confined to their jobs. All of these places with exception to the foxglove bells that the bees go to have a negative connotation to them. The places are described as being “narrow” and “cells.” When he describes these places he cannot understand why the people trapped within them seem so satisfied with their lives. When he realizes that the bees are satisfied because they go to the “foxglove bells” he realizes that sometimes it is fine to be confined because it gives life meaning.

After analyzing the life of others and the places they are confined to, Wordsworth begins to analyze his own life and the place he is confined to as a writer. He talks about the prison “unto which we doom ourselves, no prison is.” The so called prison that we put ourselves in to, he realizes that it is actually a place where he, as well as others, can feel comfort and find happiness. In these lines he also mentions “the sonnets scanty plot of ground.” Here he was able to find “solace” when he “felt the weight of the too much liberty.” He enjoyed feeling confined for just a moment and realized why the others where contempt and happy with their own form of confinement. The poet also wishes for other writers, poets or even readers to feel the solace of “the sonnet’s scanty plot of ground.”