Wrap up interview with Aubry Saverino

What did you think of Mr. Collins in the Pride and Prejudice?Personally he seems like he's just interested in Miss Elizabeth because of her father's property. Since the property is entailed, Collins seemed to be just an opportunist out to make money until he married Elizabeth's best friend. To me, he married the later girl because his pride was damaged after the denied proposal by Elizabeth.

I think Mr. Collins is interested in pleasing people (especially Lady Catherine) and appearing successful in front of other people. One of his measures of success is getting a wife - it doesn't seem to matter terribly who it is, just as long as he gets one that Lady Catherine will approve of. When Elizabeth rejects him, it is easy enough for him to transfer his advances to another woman since none of his true feelings were wrapped up with her to begin with.

How do you feel about Mr. Bennet treatment of Wickham and Lydia after they married? Do you think Mr. Bennet had just cause to treat them that coldly, being that he has distanced himself from the entire family?

My. Bennet does act a little coldly towards Wickham and Lydia. True, what she did nearly ruined their entire family's reputation- but considering he was the one apathetic enough to let her go in the first place, he takes very little (if any) responsibility for what she's done. Perhaps if he would have paid her more attention in the first place, she wouldn't have felt the need to act out quite as much.

Sword of Truth

Richard is given the titular Sword of Truth, which uses the power of its user's personal anger to strike down enemies. This sword is quite special for it draws upon the wielder's own perspective of an enemy. It will cut through anything thought of as an enemy; with any doubt the sword will stop mid-air, inches from the target. The Sword also instills and amplifies great anger and rage thereby giving the one wielding it added strength, agility and conviction. This has led me to believe that the sword of truth is a symbol for the chaos and emotions within one's own heart and mind.

Wizard's first Rule

The first chapter of this novel is quite compelling. The primary protagonist in Wizard's First Rule is Richard Cypher, a young woods guide. Richard lives in an area of the world known as Westland, which is the only part of the world that at the time contains no magic. The Westland is separated from the other lands by a dangerous magical boundary that prevents anyone without the aid of powerful magic from passing through it. On the other side of the boundary are many sovereign nations, jointly known as the Midlands, and farther still past another magical boundary lies the empire of D'Hara. Richard works as a woods guide leading important political figures through dangerous forests, while his brother's interests lie entirely in politics.

Richard is naturally compelled to investigate the mysterious brutal murder of his father who worked as a trader of ancient artifacts. Investigating the only clue he has, a small piece of vine, he happens upon a woman named Kahlan Amnell, whom he helps keep alive as she is being hunted by a group of four men sent to assassinate her.

Jacob Bordieri Interview

Interview questions

List of books that have impacted you and what age you were when you read them. What was going on in your life when you read them, and why they are important to you.

Jacob's Response

I admit that I haven't read any books recently but there is one I remember that I was quite fond about. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. During the time that I was reading this book I was doing a lot of soul searching, trying to find out who I really was. This book helped a bit on that journey. It taught me that it is me who defines myself not others. It's helped a lot and its a good read.

Woman's Reputation

This theme of Reputation is constant thought the Pride and Prejudice. The novel depicts a society in which a woman's reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to exclusion.

This theme first appears in the first chapter. Mrs. Bennet is frantic about marring off her daughters. She surrounds herself in topics of gossip and sees only to marry off her daughters to men of wealth, paying no head to matters of the heart. It appears again when Elizabeth arrives in Netherfield with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation-conscious Miss Bingley and her friends. To these snobby conscious women, a lady should never look less then her best when arriving anywhere.

Austen pokes gentle fun at the snobs in these examples, but later in the novel, when Lydia and Wickham live with eachother out of wedlock, the author treats reputation as a very serious matter. By becoming Wickham’s lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia clearly places herself outside the social pale, and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family.

The Pride and Prejudice

This classic novel starts off with a detached father and husband, Mr. Bennet, having a "casual" conversation with his wife. The subject of this dialog between the two happened to be about marring their daughters off to suitable husbands. This seemed to irritate Mr. Bennet more than anything.

As I read through its first part of the novel I kept getting this feeling that Mr. Bennet is not the most prominent father figure, pretty much dumping his children into his wife's ring of responsibility. It's quite sad that Mr. Bennet is so distant with his family and I feel that this fault of his is going to be a serious problem.

Interview with Aubrey Saverino

interview questions

List of books that have impacted you and what age you were when you read them. What was going on in your life when you read them, and why they are important to you.

Aubrey's Response

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
I was in high school when I read that book. I loved the relationship between the two eldest sisters (especially since I was close to my own sister). I also admired the character of Elizabeth Bennet because she set a great example of an intelligent, witty, strong woman who could examine her own flaws and pursue what she wanted in life, despite society's restraints.

he Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
I read this book when I was about 22 years old and found it to be an interesting, philosophical discussion on the meaning of life and the fact that we can never know if we're living the "right" life since we only live once & can't compare it to anything. A lot was changing in my life around that time & so I related to the idea explored in this book that we can never really know if the life we're leading is the best possible option for us...

Any book by Margaret Atwood including:
The Handmaid's Tale
The Blind Assassin
Oryx & Crake

I read quite a bit of Atwood during college & the following years because I loved & related to her female characters-- they were always complex, interesting and dynamic women put in morally ambiguous, challenging situations and the answers were never simple. She always seemed to be questioning the status quo.