However, this novel cannot simply be understood as a straightforward study in contrast. Elinor, though representing sense, does not lack passion, and Marianne, though representing sensibility, is not always foolish and headstrong. Austen's antitheses do not represent epigrammatic conclusions but a starting- point for dialogue. Although Austen is famous for satirizing the "cult of sensibility," in this novel she seems to argue not for the dismissal of sensibility but for the creation of a balance …showed first 75 words of 184 total…

…showed last 75 words of 184 total…the end of the novel, but they do so only by learning from one another: together they discover how to feel and express their sentiments fully while also retaining their dignity and self-control. The novel's success is not a result of the triumph of sense over sensibility or of th! eir division; rather, we remember Sense and Sensibility as a conjunction of terms that serve together as the compound subject of Austen's novel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**