Persuasion, Chapters 7-12

This section begins with Captain Wentworth’s arrival in the neighborhood. Anne and Mary are invited to meet him at Uppercross, but Mary’s son falls and dislocates his collarbone, prompting them to cancel their visit. Henrietta and Louisa, Mary’s sisters-in-law, are smitten with the Captain, who will be dining with them the next day. Mary and Charles attend too, with Anne staying home to care for her nephew and conveniently avoiding Captain Wentworth.

He comes to call on Mary the next morning and he and Anne meet briefly. Mary tells Anne that the Captain found his old love “so altered he should not have known her again” -- yikes. Anne’s hurt by it, understandably, but we learn that he hasn’t forgiven Anne, although he’s now ready to move on and get married.

Even though Anne and the Captain are frequently thrown together in social situations now, they avoid each other, speaking only when necessary. Anne still finds him charming -- she thinks they’re well suited for each other, and he’s kind to Mrs. Musgrove. Anne thinks the Crofts have a perfect relationship, as she travels with him on his ship, something the Captain says he wouldn't let his future wife do. Everyone is smitten with him.

Next we meet Charles Hayter, a cousin of the Musgroves (Mrs. Hayter and Mrs. Musgrove are sisters) and Henrietta’s suitor. The Hayters are an inferior, uneducated family, in contrast to the Musgroves, who are educated, but they get along well and encourage Henrietta and Charles. While everyone is wondering whether the Captain will choose Louisa or Henrietta Musgrove, Charles feels left out and upset. Anne doesn’t believe that he loves either of them, but is just reveling in their attentions.

The party heads out for a walk the next morning -- the Musgrove sisters make it clear they don’t want Mary along, but she goes, along with Anne, Charles Musgrove, and Captain Wentworth. Louisa flirts with the Captain and Charles and Henrietta visit the Hayters. She tells him that Charles wanted to marry Anne, but that she refused him and he married Mary, which interests the Captain. Charles Hayter now joins the party with the others, so it’s clear that Henrietta has decided he’s the one for her, leaving Louisa for the Captain. On the way home, the Crofts pass by in a carriage, and the Captain tells them to drive Anne home, since he guessed she might be tired. Anne sees that the Crofts drive the carriage together, and notes that it is representative of how their relationship works.

Anne heads to visit Lady Russell while the Captain goes to visit his friends, the Harvilles in Lyme. That makes everyone want to visit Lyme, so they set out for there. In Lyme, we meet the Harvilles -- he’s a captain too -- and Captain Benwick, whose fiancée, Captain Harville’s sister, died the previous year. Benwick is depressed and interested in poetry, which means Anne has a lot to discuss with him and makes reading suggestions, including reading more prose.

The next day, the group heads out for a walk, and they run into a man who stares at Anne He’s very attractive and happens to be Mr. Elliot, Anne’s cousin and heir to Kellynch. On a second walk, disaster strikes -- Louisa jumps down from a wall, hits her head, and is rendered unconscious. She’s brought to the Harville’s home, where a doctor sees her and says that while her injury is severe, she’ll be okay. Anne and the Captain head back home, while the others remain to help. That’s where we leave our friends.

There are some parallels between Persuasion and Mansfield Park -- vapid girls encroaching on the heroine's man, our heroine set adrift from her family and taken in by those who can care better for her/understand her, and a heroine who isn't in the spunky Elizabeth/Emma/Catherine school. What Austen does best between her third novel and her sixth is creating a more balanced heroine:

Where Fanny was timid and meek, Anne's quiet only because she knows when to get involved and speak her mind and when to let things slide. She recognizes the inanity that surrounds her, and unlike Fanny, whose youth made her unable to navigate the social world successfully, Anne knows what she has to do to be successful socially without comprising the best parts of her.