Persuasion

The final book Jane Austen finished writing was Persuasion. She started working on it shortly after finishing Emma, and she completed it in August of 1816. At forty-one, she passed away in 1817; Persuasion (though dated 1818) was published in December of the same year. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey have a connection not just because the two novels were first published together as a single volume, but also because part of the story takes place in Bath, a posh city that Austen was familiar with having lived there from 1801 to 1805. The book touches on a variety of subjects in addition to the theme of persuasion, such the Royal Navy, where two of Jane Austen's brothers eventually attained the rank of admiral. Similar to Northanger Abbey, Bath's surface-level social scene—which Austen was familiar with having spent a few comparatively miserable and fruitless years there—is heavily depicted and provides the backdrop for the second part of the novel. Persuasion deviates significantly from Austen's earlier novels in a number of ways, including the more scathing and even agitating sarcasm thrown at some characters as well as the melancholy and resignation of the book's otherwise wonderful heroine, Anne Elliot, in the early half of the narrative. The vigor and allure of the Royal Navy contrasts with this, representing to both Anne and the reader the prospect of a more gregarious, involved, and satisfying existence. In the end, this perspective is mostly successful.