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Merger

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Submitted By CouttsE
Words 1388
Pages 6
Erin Coutts
Professor Buck
Jane Austen Pop Culture
7 October, 2015
Understanding Jane Austen
It truly amazes me how the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and the rewrite of Pride and Prejudice by Seth Grahame-Smith can encompass the exact same story plot, yet still be different in so many ways. Jane Austen’s original book is a romantic drama that describes the difficulties faced when dealing with love and family. Her style of writing focuses on language and verbiage. Alternatively, Seth Grahame-Smith is able to rewrite this drama into more of an action thriller including zombies, ninja warriors, and sword fights through his creative and unique writing that instead focuses on characters’ actions and behaviors. While readers may initially wonder how this drastic transformation is possible, Seth is able to effectively deepen the reader’s understanding of the book through his inventive, modern concepts which help create new perspectives that the reader might have otherwise overlooked.
As one of the most important sentences in the book, Jane Austen begins the first chapter with, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen 1). This sentence describes the theme of marriage which encompasses the majority of Pride and Prejudice. Seth’s version instead encompasses the life of zombies and zombie-slayers in comparison to single men and women. Thus, he updates this first, crucial sentence- “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains” (Grahame-Smith 1). This sentence foreshadows the humor that zombies will bring to this romanticized drama. Although humor does not always lead to a deeper understanding, Seth’s humor does so by being discrete due to the fact that his writing makes it seem as though zombies are ordinary and common. This discrete humor surfaces to readers who have previously read Jane Austen’s version who then find the exchange of main characters with zombies to be amusing and witty.
Seth’s added humor about combat skills and ninjas is especially evident through the characters Elizabeth and Lady Catherine. “Fiercely independent Elizabeth Bennet is known for her sharp tongue… and her sharp dagger,” (Kellogg) while the domineering, proud Lady Catherine de Bourgh is known for her great wealth and her superior status… in the martial arts. In both versions of the book, Lady Catherine has the amazing ability to make people want to stay away from her out of fear. She is viewed as very snobbish and arrogant due to her high social rank and her incredible fortune. To make Lady Catherine’s personality follow Seth’s zombie theme, he instead has zombies fear her because of her outstanding zombie fighting skills. “Elizabeth felt at once relaxed, for there had been no reports of zombies in Hunsford for years. Many attributed this to the presence of Lady Catherine- so great a slayer that the stricken dared not venture too close to her home” (Grahame-Smith, 119). As described in this quote, the citizens of Hunsford in Jane’s novel and the zombies in Seth’s rewrite are not so different after all- “no matter what's going on around them in the world, they live in this bubble of privilege. The same thing is true of the people in [Seth’s] book, although it's much more absurd” (Kellogg). While it is known that everyone in Jane’s novel is engulfed in a rich society, Seth’s ability to describe the people as walking zombies exaggerates the extent of how stuck these people are in their own ways and how robotic their actions are. The mental image gained by Seth’s readers of unfeeling zombies at a fancy, upper-class ball provides not only humor, but also the deeper understanding of the setting. Ultimately, by altering the characters in the book to zombies and zombie slayers, Seth is able to further the understanding of the roles each character plays in the society that they live in.
Another example of Seth’s facility with turning Jane’s romantic drama into a zombie-packed action thriller is through Elizabeth and Lady Catherine’s confrontation in chapter fifty-six. Seth turns their exchange of words into a physical ninja fight. Every physical jab of a sword in Seth’s rewrite assimilates to when one of the characters had insulted the other or said something hurtful. This was shown during the fight when Lady Catherine seemed to be defeating Elizabeth. “Lady Catherine landed gently on her feet, and seeing her opponent attempt to rise, sent her flying the length of the dojo with a ruinous kick to the back… ‘You have no regard for the honor and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?’ ” (Grahame-Smith, 289). Blow after blow Lady Catherine continues to insult not only Elizabeth but also her family, yet with each hit, Elizabeth succumbs the strength to get back up and stand up for herself. Seth takes this statement literally by having Elizabeth kicked down repeatedly but still summoning the will power to stand back up and fight.
Not only was Elizabeth able to stand up for herself, but she was additionally able to conquer Lady Catherine. In Jane Austen’s novel, the reader is aware that Elizabeth has “won” this argument because she was able to stand up to Lady Catherine, put her foot down, and say that she has the right to her own happiness and if that is with Darcy then so be it. “I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will in my opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me” (Austen, 338). While this line shows Elizabeth’s firm attitude which is so unlike any other girl her age or of the time, there is something about how Elizabeth states Lady Catherine’s defeat in Seth’s version that is both impressive and riveting. “Whether you shall live to see him married to your daughter, or married to me, I know not. But you shall live. And for the rest of your days, you shall know that you have been bested by a girl for whom you have no regard, and whose family and master you have insulted in the harshest possible manner. Now I beg that you take your leave” (Grahame-Smith, 292). In Seth’s version, Elizabeth had the opportunity to kill Lady Catherine, but decided it would be better to make her suffer for everything she has done. Lady Catherine’s reputation as the best zombie slayer known is no longer standing, and better yet, she was beaten by a girl whom she described as unimportant and shameful. This triumph enhances the emotions the reader should receive while reading this successful feat by Elizabeth. It puts into perspective how big of a deal it was to stand up to a woman like Lady Catherine and get away with it.
When Jane wrote Pride and Prejudice, the time period most likely made Elizabeth’s accomplishments seem to be very admirable and deserving, yet readers of this generation have a harder time appreciating the extent of these triumphs. Thus, Seth took the responsibility into his own hands, and updated the novel in a way that current readers could better relate to and understand how incredible of a character Elizabeth is and how she amazingly defies the odds of the society she lives in. It truly is unbelievable that adding mythical creatures to Jane’s novel would help better it in any way, but if zombies are what it takes to modernize a book and make it more relatable, then Seth’s rewrite is very effective. Ultimately, reading Seth’s version helps deepen the reader’s understanding of the emotions Jane tries to pursue by modernizing the events that occur, adding his own form of humor to the text, and by ultimately displaying the true heroine that Elizabeth is.

Works Cited
Austen, Jane, and Vivien Jones. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Grahame-Smith, Seth, and Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance--now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem. Philadelphia: Quirk, 2009. Print.
Kellogg, Carolyn. "'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' by Seth Grahame-Smith." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 04 Apr. 2009. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

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