Like many overly educated women, I reread
Pride and Prejudice once or twice a year. Sometimes it’s only to fulfill a Darcy jones, but sometimes I sit and read the whole thing. The building tension is so delicious; I can’t stand it sometimes and flip to the end to remind myself that everything works out. I have even been known to snatch it off the shelf of the school library to read the last 3 chapters during study breaks. Chapter 59: The proposal, so awkward, yet so romantic. Chapter 60: The teasing engagement period. Chapter 61: look into the future and get only a taste of what we all really want, how the Darcy’s lived happily ever after.
I’ve never really gotten why Elizabeth turns him down the first time. Oh, I know superficially that she really despises him, but I’ve never really empathized with her. There has never been a time in my memory when I was not head over heels in love with Mr. Darcy. So her dismissal of him is really only a small stumbling block. However, after yesterday I really understand her dislike and disgust at his first proposal.
There is a guy who goes to my church. He’s been in the background for a few years now, and I’ve never liked him much. In fact, once he started to speak to me, I began to truly dislike him. He is arrogant, obnoxious, and a very poor dresser. Yech. I never really say anything around him unless it’s specifically calculated to annoy him. Unfortunately for my plan, it turns out he is intrigued by me. How unpleasant.
I was talking to another friend when he happened to be in the room. I was telling an anecdote about my friend in Namibia and how I warned her not to have sex with monkeys, so as not to get AIDS. Hardly church appropriate, and therefore something I was sure would bother him. Not so. Apparently he leaned over and asked my mother what I had said because he didn’t want to miss anything; and that he always paid particular attention to my little asides, as they were the most entertaining.
There really is nothing nearly so annoying as finding out that someone you dislike actually likes you. When I thought my little plan to annoy him was working, I had the prerogative to dislike him to my hearts content, because he disliked me. It is really very annoying to know that I intrigue him. It puts a damper on my dislike.
BUT! I will not, under any circumstances, draw any further connections to Pride and Prejudice. While Elizabeth’s dislike of Darcy is really only the beginning of one of the greatest love stories of all time, this little turd of a situation will not. In fact, I can’t even think about it without my face involuntarily contorting to look like someone shoved something gross into my face. Just writing this blog entry it has happened more times than I can count. So I’ll stop thinking about it because I for sure don’t want this horrible little man to cause wrinkles!
