Pride and Prejudice Diary Assignment 3 – set in Volume 3 of the novel

Author's Note: I wrote this for a creative writing assignment in grade 11 English. Each student was assigned a particular character follow throughout the course of the novel Pride and Prejudice. The first assignment involved a seminar about the character, their views on status, marriage, money, etc., whether the character was a caricature, how they exhibited pride and prejudice, etc. The second assignment involved writing three diary entries, scattered throughout the novel, written in the style and from the point of view of the assigned character. The character I was assigned was Mr. Bennet and, even though I don't seriously believe he would be the type of person to keep any sort of journal, I needed to write these in order to get the marks. Btw, I don't make any claim to the novel or the characters and I'm not making any money off of this, so don't sue me….please….I'm serious…I have too little money as it is. Feel free to leave your comments and criticism.

That foolish Lydia of mine has been married. That she is unable to see how foolish she's been

in her pursuit of Wickham is obvious and, equally obvious, is that no matter how many times she is

denounced for her actions, she will never learn. Wickham is such a great source of amusement, but

I can't help but be irritated whenever I think of him. Perhaps, more to the point, I feel a degree of

irritation towards my own person. I can't really feel regret at my actions, for, based on the information

of the time, it was the correct course. I will not miss her presence in this house, for while her

influence may be less on Kitty than it once was, I am still left with two silly daughters whose

excessive behaviour is nowhere near as amusing as that of my wife and new son-in-law. It is a

dreadful matter, this marriage between my youngest and Wickham, but I suppose now she is as

happy as she likely ever will be and that, with all luck, will keep her out of my sight for a while.

I have yet to reason out why I am writing this correspondence to myself. It makes very little

sense, as I can find no amusement in my own writing and this will not be read by anyone else. While

it is easy to find enjoyment when discoursing with those are full of pride or silliness, it is much harder

to develop the habit of talking to one's self. Now that I have begun, I find it difficult to continue the

train of thought which began my unprecedented putting of pen to paper. This library is so filled with

books which a simple glance at the cover makes me totally familiar with its nature that it is

sometimes hard to forget that there are books in here whose substance remains unknown. I can no

longer ignore the fact that my misjudgement of Lydia caused this catastrophe. I do regret not having

listened studiously to the entreaties of my dear Lizzy, but she is young yet and her judgement is no

wiser than my own in most regards. I misjudged not Lizzy's intelligence (for that opinion at least has

been confirmed to no end by her actions), but her vulnerability. One would have thought that with so

many officers in sight, she would not have settled merely for one in particular, but would have

insisted upon a whole slew of husbands. Though in sending her to Brighton I had intended to

prevent her from causing more than a little expense and inconvenience to her family, she has

somehow managed to make herself more of a nuisance than before. This is a feat that Kitty, try as

she might, will never be able to fully duplicate.

It is a singular stroke of good fortune that things have turned out as they have. I will be sorry to

see my dear Lizzy go, but I am sure she will write to me of many foolish happenings in her

encounters with those who formerly knew more than she (for money and knowledge are, needless to

say, directly proportional) and now must profess their ignorance on account of her husband having

ten thousand a year. The memory of my misjudgement of her husband will no doubt stay with me for

quite some time and that, in itself, is something which I shall be grateful for.