Part one of term paper
“And upon looking over his letters and things, she found it was so, and is perfectly sure that this must be the very man, and her head is quite full of it, and of poor Richard!” (Austen, 34) Richard Musgrove is a very, very minor character in Jane Austen’s Persuasion. However, his presence in the novel allows Austen to initi ...

Part two of term paper
... social class. Austen’s exploration of usefulness vs. uselessness allows the reader to gain a glimpse of the true purpose of Persuasion. That being that happiness and self-fulfillment can only be achieved when one refuses the shackles of the ineffectual aristocracy. Austen seems to be expounding on Richard’s uselessness and his failure to live up to the promise of his birth and entitlement. This is a very important point. It seems that in the world of Persuasion, it is the qualitie ...