Lydia and Mary - An adaptation of Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 8

Suddenly, I felt a strong gust of wind hit me. Falling to the floor, I heard a whizzing sound in my head, and suddenly, I was tumbling down something steep. It felt like a hill, but I couldn't tell for sure as my eyes were closed. Thud. My body hit something hard and the tumbling stopped. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was in my room... My room with its modern furniture and my laptop on my desk. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was wearing the T-shirt and pair of jeans that I had slept in nights ago, and saw too, that my leg was in a caste. Right... the fracture... I thought. Had it all been a dream? I wondered.

Sitting-up and turning around, I spotted a copy of Pride and Prejudice resting on my bedside-table – the copy that I'd just finished reading. It was flipped open to one of the last pages of the book. Scanning through the page, I realized that Elizabeth and Jane had both gotten married, Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy, and Jane to Mr. Bingley. However, Lydia wasn't married to anybody. Instead, it said that she taught at a charitable school for farmers' children, and enjoyed visiting her sisters whenever she could.

Wow, I thought; so, I really did travel back in time, and I've changed Lydia's fate too. Looking out of the window, I saw that the rain had stopped and the sheep and cows were out grazing again. My parents, too had stopped quarreling, and the house was relatively quiet. 'It really wasn't Lydia's fault,' I said to myself; 'though most people would think that it was, after reading Jane Austen's original novel.' Wow, I thought; so, I really did travel back in time, and I've changed Lydia's fate too. Looking out of the window, I saw that the rain had stopped and the sheep and cows were out grazing again. My parents, too had stopped quarreling, and the house was relatively quiet. 'It really wasn't Lydia's fault,' I said to myself; 'though most people would think that it was, after reading Jane Austen's original novel.' I found it unfair that even in today's society, women are often the ones being blamed for bringing it upon themselves whenever they get into trouble with men, although they aren't always the ones at fault. Quite usually, the men get away with what they've done, as my father usually does after he's yelled at my mum. I wished then, that I could change the way things were for my family, though, I knew that it probably wasn't just a problem that my family had. In school, boys often made derogatory remarks about girls, and seemed to see themselves as superior to their female counterparts. They joked about their female classmates, saying that we females are 'unable to control our temper'. I'm not sure if they even knew what they were saying, some of them probably just said it because they wanted to be part of the popular crowd. Maybe it has something to do with our culture, I thought; It's become natural for man to behave in such a manner because of the way they've been brought up. It felt almost like a tradition that had been passed down ever since the first laws were set to silence women.

Occasionally, it is necessary for certain plot points in classics to be changed or modified. Sure, they might have withstood the test of time, but our beliefs have changed over the years and sometimes, these classics, which were written based on the lifestyle and beliefs of people who lived centuries ago just have to be altered a little to portray the right values to readers living in this day and age. However, it is important also, for us to remember that women living during the Victorian era were in fact treated in such a manner, and that without the effort and involvement of future generations in ensuring that gender equality is made mainstream, women could very possibly suffer from the same fate that we did centuries ago.