This book takes place in Longbourn, where the Bennet household is at. The Bennets have 5 unmarried daughters (Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia) and their mother Mrs. Bennet wants to do anything to get them all married. When the news that a a wealthy guy called Charles Bingley has rented the manor of Netherfield Park, Mrs. Bennet immediately asks her husband to go talk to him. Later on at a ball, Bingley is there with his sisters, brother in law and his friend, Mr.Darcy, as well as the other people in the village. The Bennet sisters are there too with their mother. Bingley is attracted to Jane, the oldest of the Bennet sisters, and asks her to dance with her twice and Mr.Darcy, whom everyone didn't like because of his great pride and rudeness, doesn't want to dance with anyone because he doesn't think any girl is pretty enough except Jane. When I read the difference between Darcy and Bingley it made me think of Darcy as sort of a character foil for Bingley because they are exactly opposites. When the author describes them together it makes Bingley look like a very nice person while Darcy seems like a totally rude person. They contrast each other. There is quite a lot of dialogue so far. In the first paragraphs, the author also describes some of the characters by saying some of the characteristics they have. The things every character says in dialogue also add to their character. Then we are introduced to Sir William Lucas and his family, who are really close friends to the Bennets. Charlotte, the oldest of the Sir William Lucas children, is really intimate friends with Elizabeth and they in the book the author includes some of the conversations they have about the stuff going on. After the ball, there is a lot of talking about it and what happened and Bingley's sisters try to be friends with Jane, because Bingley seems to like her. Later, we learn that Darcy has feelings for Elizabeth and he starts to listen to her conversations at parties.
We learn later on that Mr.Bennet's property can only be inherited to a man after he dies, which means that he can't inherit it to his 5 daughters. One night Jane gets a note that invites her to Netherfield Park for a day, where the Bingleys live. So Mrs. Bennet sends Jane by horse instead of coach knowing that it will rain and as result Jane gets soaked, falls ill, and is forced to remain at Netherfield as an invalid. So then Elizabeth goes to visit her, hiking over on foot. When she arrives with soaked and dirty stockings she causes quite a stir and is certain that the Bingleys hold her in contempt for her soiled clothes. Jane insists that her sister spend the night, and the Bingleys agree. Then while the Bennet sisters are there, the Bingleys began talking bad about them, but Darcy and Bingley defend them. This shows how the money matters because if the Bennet sisters were as rich and wealthy as the Bingley sisters then they wouldn't be criticizing them.
It seems as though Mrs. Bennet tries too hard in order to make Bingley marry Jane. Then later on Elizabeth has an argument with Darcy and refuses to dance with him. It seems like maybe Elizabeth likes him but she backed off from him because of how he was when they first met. Then there is some conflict because Miss Bingley likes Darcy and therefore is jealous that Darcy likes Elizabeth and therefore makes fun of the Bennet family. So Miss Bingley keeps trying to impress Darcy and make him like her instead of Elizabeth. After, Elizabeth sends a letter to their mom saying that her and her sister are ready to go back home but her mom refuses because she wants Jane to spend more time with Bingley. But Elizabeth is anxious to leave so they borrow Bingley's carriage. We see how Darcy is concerned about liking Elizabeth because she isn't in the same class as him. We are able to see the difference between Miss Bingley and Elizabeth in this situation. Miss Bingley tries so hard to get Darcy's attention and because she knows she can't compete with Elizabeth's talents she teases her family for not being of such a high class as hers.
Then, we are introduced to Mr. Collins, a clergyman whom the wealthy noblewoman Lady Catherine de Bourgh has recently selected to serve her parish. He is also the one who will inherit Mr. Bennet's property and therefore goes to Lonbourn to visit the Bennets and admire their house, that will one day be his and he is unmarried. He is looking for a wife and because Mrs. Bennet tells him that Jane will soon be engaged, he puts his eyes on Elizabeth. This might lead to a later conflict between Darcy and Collins for Elizabeth. We are then introduced to new characters Mr. Denny and Mr. Wickman, who is part of the militia and whom the Bennet sisters find as very attractive while Darcy and him don't seem to get along. We then find why they might not get along and that is because Wickham wanted to go in the ministry but joined the militia instead because he didn't have money so Darcy's dad decided to help him but Darcy did something in the will of his father to keep the money for himself. Elizabeth believes this and trusts and likes Wickham. This story also makes Elizabeth dislike Darcy even more and when Bingley invites the neighborhood to a ball Elizabeth only looks forward to dancing with Wickham, but he does not attend. The author seems to give hints that Wickham's story might not be true as Jane even defends Darcy, also it is weird how Wickham just told Elizabeth even though he just met her. Also at the ball, Miss Bingley tells her not to trust in Wickham.
The next day, Mr. Collins asks Elizabeth to marry him but she says no because she does not like him. There is conflict following this because Mrs. Bennet is so excited that someone wants to marry her daughter that she tells her that if she does not marry him she will not see her again but Mr. Bennet does not want his daughter to marry Mr.Collins and says that if she marries him he won't see her again. Then Miss Bingley sends a letter to Jane letting her know that they are moving to the city and that Bingley plans to marry Darcy's sister but Elizabeth tells her that it might just be Miss Bingley lying but then later on Miss Bingley send Jane another letter telling her how beautiful Darcy's sister was. It seems as though Miss Bingley is picking on Jane just because she is a Bennet and Miss Bingley doesn't like the Bennets because they are not at such a high class as she is. News appear that Mr. Collins proposed marriage to Charlotte, Elizabeth's intimate friend, and that she agreed! Mrs. Bennet was the most mad about this because now Elizabeth wont be able to marry him and she will continue to be single. We are then introduced to Mr. Gardiner, Mrs. Bennets brother who offers to take Jane to London. We also continue to see how Elizabeth and Wickham keep talking to each other, which might lead to a future love between them, which Mrs. Gardiner does not agree with because of Wickham's lack of money. So then Elizabeth agrees with Mrs. Gardiner and says she'll try for them both not to fall in love in order to not embarrass her father. But then Wickham shifts his attention to another girl and Elizabeth is left thinking she was never in love.
This is about half of the book and so far the main themes are marriage, love, money and class. The main goal is for the Bennet sisters(Jane and Elizabeth) to find husbands but so far that isn't going to well because Bingley left Jane and Elizabeth refused to marry the only guy who proposed to marry her.
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