JASNA North Carolina

Lock in Your Final Answer for Jane Austen Trivia

Meetings

By Nancy Young

jasna nc members playing trivia at fun and games
JASNA-NC Members Play Trivia

“If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it.” Like Mary Crawford, JASNA members are “not born to sit still and do nothing.” The Fun and Games meeting July 19th was the perfect antidote to summer doldrums. Co-regional coordinators Linda Darden and Sara Tavela welcomed twenty-two Janeites to test their knowledge of all things Jane.

To warm up, attendees shared what Austen-adjacent hobbies they enjoyed. Regency pastimes abounded: quilling, English country dancing, fashioning ribbon flowers, creating art with watercolors and embroidery, playing parlor games, raising chickens, traveling, and of course, reading and writing. Even Caroline Bingley would be impressed with these accomplishments.

Game mistress Sue Scott next adeptly led the group through eight challenging rounds of trivia—one on each Austen novel, one on Jane’s life, and one on film adaptations of Austen’s works. It came as no surprise that members were quick to answer most questions, though a few topics stumped all but the most bookish. Gentle reader, you are invited to try the stumpers:

  1. Besides Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who else in Pride and Prejudice is named Catherine?
  2. In Sense and Sensibility, John Willoughby seduced you, got you pregnant, and dumped you. Worse yet, you are mentioned but never appear on the page. What’s your first name?
  3. Which of these sports is not mentioned in Northanger Abbey—cricket, badminton, or baseball? (This question elicited a spirited discussion!)
  4. In Emma, Harriet Smith burns two mementos of Mr. Elton. One is a court plaster, a precursor of the Band-Aid. What’s the other—a pencil stub? A button? A bootlace? 
  5. In Mansfield Park, how is Maria Bertram Rushworth punished for running away with Henry Crawford? Is she sent to a convent? Disinherited? Stuck living with Mrs. Norris?
  6. In Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliot is dismayed by William Elliot’s “being very much under-hung.” What is the nature of William Elliot’s defect?
  7. The screenplay for the 1940 movie version of Pride and Prejudice (with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier) was written by Jane Murfin and whom? George Orwell? Aldous Huxley? John Steinbeck?
  8. During Jane Austen’s flirtation with the young Irishman named Tom Lefroy, Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra, objecting to which of these? The color of his morning coat? His appetite for soft-boiled eggs? His squint?

Answers: 1. Kitty 2. Eliza 3. Baseball 4. Pencil stub 5. Stuck with Mrs. Norris 6. Jutting lower jaw 7. Aldous Huxley 8. The color of his morning coat

GGWP

Gamers may look forward to prizes including copies of Potter’s Jane Austen Trivia game, Pride and Prejudice and Puzzles, and the Jane Austen Escape Room, as well as Austen playing cards and a Little Miss Austen Pride and Prejudice board book (“so fun, whatever age you may be”).

To wrap up the afternoon, the group engaged in conversational topics suitable for the parlor. Play along as you read each question.

If you had to watch only one Austen adaptation for the rest of your life other than the1995 Pride and Prejudice, which would it be? 

The 1995 Persuasion movie with its swoony ending and the 1995 Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson were fan favorites.

Which Austen character are you most like on a bad day?

 Responses ranged from Mary Musgrove with a need for snacks and pampering, Anne Elliot when brooding, or Lydia—if there’s a band.

Which family in the novels would be the worst to work for?

Many thought Lady Catherine, Mrs. Norris, and Mrs. Bennet would be tough employers.

If you could read only one Austen novel for the rest of your life, and you also had to live in that world, what would you choose?

Engaging in the social life of Persuasion in Bath, basking under the care of the loving parents in Northanger Abbey, hanging with the Bennet sisters, and living at Pemberley all appealed.

And so another afternoon passed pleasantly, as all afternoons with Jane do.

Coming up next

Northanger Abbey will be the focus of our virtual book club in August. In September, we will learn more about masquerades in Austen’s lifetime from Dr. Meghan Kobza. In October, we will have our fanfiction book club a month early to accommodate the AGM, and our selection is Nikki Payne’s Pride and Protest.