"This peace": naval homecoming and domestic reintegration in Persuasion

BECAUSE JANE AUSTEN'S BROTHERS, Francis and Charles, had lengthy and successful careers as naval officers, Austen was sensitive to issues of navy homecoming and was familiar with the process. Wentworth, of course, is not to be completely or permanently domesticated; as far as he is concerned, h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Persuasions : the Jane Austen journal (Print version) 2015-01, Vol.37 (37), p.237
Main Author: Miller, Grace E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed forces
Austen, Jane
Austen, Jane (1775-1817)
British & Irish literature
Criticism and interpretation
English literature
Homecoming
Novelists
Persuasion
Portrayals
Sailors
Social aspects
Society
Success
War
Women
Works
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Summary:BECAUSE JANE AUSTEN'S BROTHERS, Francis and Charles, had lengthy and successful careers as naval officers, Austen was sensitive to issues of navy homecoming and was familiar with the process. Wentworth, of course, is not to be completely or permanently domesticated; as far as he is concerned, his naval career is not over. [...]it is very likely that Captain Wentworth does not even remember what it was like to grow up in a conventional household; midshipmen, or naval officers in training, often as young as ten years old, were usually "brought up" by their captains (Rodger 505).1 The homecoming detailed in Persuasion is Captain Wentworth's first prolonged experience with domesticity since he began his naval career. Based on Austen's development of the navy homecoming plot, I argue that the domestic sphere, which includes matters of the home, children, and female life, does indeed belong primarily to women, but, in cases of relational intimacy, it is shared; Admiral Croft and Captain Harville are proof that, with the right woman, a naval officer can adapt successfully to domestic life and achieve stability and happiness. When Mrs. Croft first began to accompany Admiral Croft on his ships, he would have been the one working to ease the culture shock for his companion, and she seems to have adjusted well; her "reddened and weather-beaten complexion" is "the consequence of her having been almost as much at sea as her husband" (48).
ISSN:0821-0314