When Jane’s fist published novel is read in accordance with what we know about the writer’s genuine life, as assessed in the BBC documentary Austen Behind Closed Doors, it is apparent that the two sisters, exemplifying personas of the often opposing sagacity and feeling, experience an ordeal not too loosely derived from that of Jane’s during her transition to Chawton Cottage. Similarities between the author’s life and this book include a focus on two close sisters, difficulty with relationships, and the value of money in order to maintain a less troublesome life.
Just as the Dashwood sisters are required to move to Barton Cottage (after so many different attempts at settling in a satisfactory home, including Steventon, Ash, Dean, Lyme, Bath, Southampton, and London) Jane and her sister, Cassandra, must move to Chawton Cottage, though Barton seems to be a much more dramatized setting than the home Jane lived in. I find it to be of no coincidence that Jane wrote Sense and Sensibility while living in Chawton and I am sure she drew inspiration from that event in order to lay a foundation for her work, as she did with all of her writing. In the documentary about Jane’s life, we see that she struggled deeply with finding a partner for life partly due to a possible lack of physical beauty matched with a witty personality, but her options were most likely limited due to her own lack of wealth. Jane writes that Fanny tells her mother-in-law of Edward’s “great expectations, of Mrs. Ferrars’ resolution that both her sons should marry well, and of the danger attending any young woman who attempted to draw him in” (60 James-Cavan). It is clear that Jane’s focus on money throughout this novel, along with all of her works, is a result of the challenge she faced as someone not born into a necessarily well-to-do family of her time.
Jane Austen and Popular Culture: Funds and Finances 