feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/novelguide/Sense and Sensibility/section_1_part_1.txt
feat_book_id: Sense and Sensibility.chapter i
feat_summary_id: chapter i
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter I", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201020004256/https://www.novelguide.com/sense-and-sensibility/summaries/volume1-chapter1-11", "summary": "Sense and Sensibility opens by introducing the Dashwood family, whose fortunes the novel follows. The Dashwoods have for many generations owned and occupied the country estate of Norland Park in Sussex, England. The recent owner, Henry Dashwood, inherited the estate from a Dashwood uncle, referred to as \"the old Gentleman. Henry Dashwood has a son, John, from a previous marriage, and three daughters from his current marriage: Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. John is well provided for by his mother's fortune and his wife's wealth. The old Gentleman stipulated in his will that the estate must pass directly from Henry Dashwood to John and thence to John's son, Harry. This was in accordance with the accepted system of male-line primogeniture , but also because of the old Gentleman's favoritism towards the then two- or three-year-old Harry. Therefore, when Henry Dashwood dies, his widow and daughters are left with a modest income from a lump sum of ten thousand pounds, but no estate. On his deathbed, Henry Dashwood elicits a promise from John to take care of his wife and daughters. Once Henry Dashwood is in his grave, Mrs. Dashwood's house belongs to John and his wife, Fanny. Fanny Dashwood arrives unannounced with her child and servants and installs herself as mistress of Norland. Mrs. Dashwood feels so offended that she wishes to leave immediately, but is advised against it by her eldest daughter, Elinor", "analysis": ""}
text: 
  
  The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex.  Their estate
  was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of
  their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so
  respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their
  surrounding acquaintance.  The late owner of this estate was a single
  man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his
  life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister.  But her
  death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great
  alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received
  into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal
  inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to
  bequeath it.  In the society of his nephew and niece, and their
  children, the old Gentleman's days were comfortably spent.  His
  attachment to them all increased.  The constant attention of Mr. and
  Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from
  interest, but from goodness of heart, gave him every degree of solid
  comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the
  children added a relish to his existence.
  
  By a former marriage, Mr. Henry Dashwood had one son: by his present
  lady, three daughters.  The son, a steady respectable young man, was
  amply provided for by the fortune of his mother, which had been large,
  and half of which devolved on him on his coming of age.  By his own
  marriage, likewise, which happened soon afterwards, he added to his
  wealth.  To him therefore the succession to the Norland estate was not
  so really important as to his sisters; for their fortune, independent
  of what might arise to them from their father's inheriting that
  property, could be but small.  Their mother had nothing, and their
  father only seven thousand pounds in his own disposal; for the
  remaining moiety of his first wife's fortune was also secured to her
  child, and he had only a life-interest in it.
  
  The old gentleman died: his will was read, and like almost every other
  will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure.  He was neither so
  unjust, nor so ungrateful, as to leave his estate from his nephew;--but
  he left it to him on such terms as destroyed half the value of the
  bequest.  Mr. Dashwood had wished for it more for the sake of his wife
  and daughters than for himself or his son;--but to his son, and his
  son's son, a child of four years old, it was secured, in such a way, as
  to leave to himself no power of providing for those who were most dear
  to him, and who most needed a provision by any charge on the estate, or
  by any sale of its valuable woods.  The whole was tied up for the
  benefit of this child, who, in occasional visits with his father and
  mother at Norland, had so far gained on the affections of his uncle, by
  such attractions as are by no means unusual in children of two or three
  years old; an imperfect articulation, an earnest desire of having his
  own way, many cunning tricks, and a great deal of noise, as to outweigh
  all the value of all the attention which, for years, he had received
  from his niece and her daughters.  He meant not to be unkind, however,
  and, as a mark of his affection for the three girls, he left them a
  thousand pounds a-piece.
  
  Mr. Dashwood's disappointment was, at first, severe; but his temper was
  cheerful and sanguine; and he might reasonably hope to live many years,
  and by living economically, lay by a considerable sum from the produce
  of an estate already large, and capable of almost immediate
  improvement.  But the fortune, which had been so tardy in coming, was
  his only one twelvemonth.  He survived his uncle no longer; and ten
  thousand pounds, including the late legacies, was all that remained for
  his widow and daughters.
  
  His son was sent for as soon as his danger was known, and to him Mr.
  Dashwood recommended, with all the strength and urgency which illness
  could command, the interest of his mother-in-law and sisters.
  
  Mr. John Dashwood had not the strong feelings of the rest of the
  family; but he was affected by a recommendation of such a nature at
  such a time, and he promised to do every thing in his power to make
  them comfortable.  His father was rendered easy by such an assurance,
  and Mr. John Dashwood had then leisure to consider how much there might
  prudently be in his power to do for them.
  
  He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted
  and rather selfish is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well
  respected; for he conducted himself with propriety in the discharge of
  his ordinary duties.  Had he married a more amiable woman, he might
  have been made still more respectable than he was:--he might even have
  been made amiable himself; for he was very young when he married, and
  very fond of his wife.  But Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature
  of himself;--more narrow-minded and selfish.
  
  When he gave his promise to his father, he meditated within himself to
  increase the fortunes of his sisters by the present of a thousand
  pounds a-piece.  He then really thought himself equal to it.  The
  prospect of four thousand a-year, in addition to his present income,
  besides the remaining half of his own mother's fortune, warmed his
  heart, and made him feel capable of generosity.-- "Yes, he would give
  them three thousand pounds: it would be liberal and handsome! It would
  be enough to make them completely easy.  Three thousand pounds! he
  could spare so considerable a sum with little inconvenience."-- He
  thought of it all day long, and for many days successively, and he did
  not repent.
  
  No sooner was his father's funeral over, than Mrs. John Dashwood,
  without sending any notice of her intention to her mother-in-law,
  arrived with her child and their attendants.  No one could dispute her
  right to come; the house was her husband's from the moment of his
  father's decease; but the indelicacy of her conduct was so much the
  greater, and to a woman in Mrs. Dashwood's situation, with only common
  feelings, must have been highly unpleasing;--but in HER mind there was
  a sense of honor so keen, a generosity so romantic, that any offence of
  the kind, by whomsoever given or received, was to her a source of
  immovable disgust.  Mrs. John Dashwood had never been a favourite with
  any of her husband's family; but she had had no opportunity, till the
  present, of shewing them with how little attention to the comfort of
  other people she could act when occasion required it.
  
  So acutely did Mrs. Dashwood feel this ungracious behaviour, and so
  earnestly did she despise her daughter-in-law for it, that, on the
  arrival of the latter, she would have quitted the house for ever, had
  not the entreaty of her eldest girl induced her first to reflect on the
  propriety of going, and her own tender love for all her three children
  determined her afterwards to stay, and for their sakes avoid a breach
  with their brother.
  
  Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed
  a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified
  her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and
  enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all,
  that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led
  to imprudence.  She had an excellent heart;--her disposition was
  affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern
  them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which
  one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.
  
  Marianne's abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor's.
  She was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her
  joys, could have no moderation.  She was generous, amiable,
  interesting: she was everything but prudent.  The resemblance between
  her and her mother was strikingly great.
  
  Elinor saw, with concern, the excess of her sister's sensibility; but
  by Mrs. Dashwood it was valued and cherished.  They encouraged each
  other now in the violence of their affliction.  The agony of grief
  which overpowered them at first, was voluntarily renewed, was sought
  for, was created again and again.  They gave themselves up wholly to
  their sorrow, seeking increase of wretchedness in every reflection that
  could afford it, and resolved against ever admitting consolation in
  future.  Elinor, too, was deeply afflicted; but still she could
  struggle, she could exert herself.  She could consult with her brother,
  could receive her sister-in-law on her arrival, and treat her with
  proper attention; and could strive to rouse her mother to similar
  exertion, and encourage her to similar forbearance.
  
  Margaret, the other sister, was a good-humored, well-disposed girl; but
  as she had already imbibed a good deal of Marianne's romance, without
  having much of her sense, she did not, at thirteen, bid fair to equal
  her sisters at a more advanced period of life.
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Chapter I
target: Sense and Sensibility opens by introducing the Dashwood family, whose fortunes the novel follows. The Dashwoods have for many generations owned and occupied the country estate of Norland Park in Sussex, England. The recent owner, Henry Dashwood, inherited the estate from a Dashwood uncle, referred to as "the old Gentleman. Henry Dashwood has a son, John, from a previous marriage, and three daughters from his current marriage: Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. John is well provided for by his mother's fortune and his wife's wealth. The old Gentleman stipulated in his will that the estate must pass directly from Henry Dashwood to John and thence to John's son, Harry. This was in accordance with the accepted system of male-line primogeniture , but also because of the old Gentleman's favoritism towards the then two- or three-year-old Harry. Therefore, when Henry Dashwood dies, his widow and daughters are left with a modest income from a lump sum of ten thousand pounds, but no estate. On his deathbed, Henry Dashwood elicits a promise from John to take care of his wife and daughters. Once Henry Dashwood is in his grave, Mrs. Dashwood's house belongs to John and his wife, Fanny. Fanny Dashwood arrives unannounced with her child and servants and installs herself as mistress of Norland. Mrs. Dashwood feels so offended that she wishes to leave immediately, but is advised against it by her eldest daughter, Elinor