Division of Private and Public

A detailed Summary of Division of Private and Public

In Frances Burney's Journals and Letters, the terms self, life, and writing are used in conjunction with each other. Burney uses her writing as a way to tell about her life as well as to create a picture of herself to present to others. Burney wants the readers of her letters to see her as a "proper" lady, as one who does what a woman of her time is supposed to do. Through Burney's letters and journal entries, we are able to see how she defines herself as a person and what defines who she is. We are also able to get an inside look at her life and how she views it and feels about it. These things she accomplishes just by writing letters and keeping a journal. Without Burney's honest and detailed accounts, it would be impossible to understand who Frances Burney really is. Thus Burney's private thoughts then become a thing for the public to encounter, and it can be seen that Burney is writing with the public's opinion in mind.

Felicity Nussbaum states, "autobiographical writing, though seeming to be a benign search for an essential "self," affords first a private occasion and later a public forum for attempting to resolve these problems" (Nussbaum 38). Autobiographical writing seems, i

Through her writing, we are able to get a full account of what Burney considers to be private and what she considers to be public. This in turn is what helps to define Burney's personality and her sense of self. Burney creates a division of herself so that she may create and keep a consistent picture of herself throughout her autobiography. Burney's intent is to appear as a proper woman, as one who acts as a typical woman of her time is supposed to act. Even though Burney is not like the other women that she socializes with, in the sense that she has written and published a book, she still wants to appear to the public as being just like the other women. Therefore, she does not want to appear "studious" and "affected" to the public and puts on a show for those people. It is clear to see that throughout Burney's journals and letters she is writing with the public's opinion in mind; she knows that she is going to be judged and she therefore makes a great effort to keep a "consistent character".

An instance when Burney puts the public's opinion before that of her own is when she is writing to Susanna and William and Frederica Locke on May 31, 1793. In this letter, Burney discussing the fact that M. D'Arblay has asked Burney to marry him, and before she can say yes she needs to discuss it with her family. She writes, "M. D'Arblay must know none of the detail of this writing at present. I wish fully to discuss all with my dear sisters before I venture at a word with him, beyond what may tolerably satisfy him in suspence" (362). M. D'Arblay has asked Burney to marry him and though she will eventually end up saying yes to him, she feels that right now she needs to discuss the matter with her sisters before she can give him an answer. She needs to know what they think of the matter and if they would agree with her marrying him. Burney feels that "so much is at stake" and she needs the help of her sisters because her "mind is so-so ill at ease!" (362). Burney is so careful not to make an impulsive decision about marrying M. D'Arblay, but instead of deciding fully by herself, she needs to bring in the opinions of others, the public, even if they happen to be family members. This goes along with Burney wanting to create a "consistent character", that of a proper lady of her time. She wants to do the right thing and to make sure that she does that she relies on what others think instead of how she privately feels.

Another time when Burney creates a division of herself is in the letter dated February 1789 when she writes about having

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Approximate Word count = 1728
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous