Persuasion

Persuasion was the final published novel by Jane Austen. It was presented as a companion volume to Northanger Abbey, and is often bound together with it when published today. The tie between the two posthumously published novels is the setting among the fashionable society at Bath.

Cassandra, Jane's sister, titled the book. Persuasion is a strong theme running throughout the plot. Persuasion is portrayed in both of its meanings, convincing someone, and also as a conviction of a character or a strong belief.

One example of persuasion in the book involves the fact that Anne Elliot, the heroine, still unmarried at 27 is persuaded to break off an engagement to Frederick Wentworth, because of his poverty and uncertain future. He makes his fortune in the Navy during the Napoleonic war, and returns, but Anne has lost her bloom.

Because of Anne's sensibility and practicality, Wentworth renews his interest in her. She is another of Jane Austen's strong, independent heroines. A prevailing theme in the well loved Jane Austen novels.

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