Jane Austen's World

Book Review by Brenda S. Cox of So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in Pride and Prejudice

It’s not often that I read something that invites me to look at one of my favorite books, Pride and Prejudice, in a totally new way. Recently, after a presentation I gave on “Mr. Collins: Jane Austen’s Most Memorable Clergyman” (which you can watch here), a participant asked if I had considered the idea of Collins being on the autistic spectrum. I hadn’t.

She recommended the book So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in Pride and Prejudice, by Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer. Of course I love to learn from other Janeites, so I bought the book for my Kindle. I found it fascinating. I can’t say I agree with everything the author says. But the book was full of quotes from Pride and Prejudice, and I read it as eagerly as if I were reading the novel again, since I was looking at it from a different point of view.

So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in Pride and Prejudice, by Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer, explores the possibility of eight characters in Pride and Prejudice having characteristics of autism.

Autism and Austen

Phyllis Bottomer is a speech language pathologist who has worked with students with mild or level 1 autism. She also loves Jane Austen. Watching a Pride and Prejudice adaptation, she was suddenly struck by the similarity between a character’s statement and a statement by Dr. Temple Grandin. Grandin describes her own experience as a woman with autism in Thinking in Pictures. This led Bottomer to reconsider Pride and Prejudice’s characters, comparing them with various sources on autism. She found many similarities.

Early in the book, the author gives us a helpful background chapter on “Autistic Spectrum Disorders for Janeites.” A chapter follows on Jane Austen for the autism specialists who may be reading.

Temple Grandin’s book Thinking in Pictures gives a first-person account of life with autism.

The title of So Odd a Mixture comes from Austen’s description of Mr. Bennet as “so odd a mixture of quick parts [abilities], sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice.” Bottomer suggests that Mr. Bennet and other characters in Pride and Prejudice are on the autistic spectrum. She includes Mr. Collins, Mary Bennet, Lydia Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, Anne De Bourgh, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, and last, but certainly not least, Fitzwilliam Darcy. This seems a high number for a disorder affecting less than 5% of the population, according to the website Autism Speaks. However, autism does tend to run in families, according to that same website.

While Bottomer discusses each one extensively in their own chapter, I will just give a few of her reasons for classifying these characters as “on the spectrum.”

Mr. Collins

I find her arguments about Mr. Collins the most convincing. Bottomer cites Collins’s awkwardness in social situations, his unawareness of social cues, his preparing compliments ahead of time (approaching social tasks with “slow conscious calculation”), his limited emotional depth, and his “obliviousness” as characteristics of those with ASD.

Collins reads Fordyce’s Sermons aloud to the family, although he knows that young ladies don’t like such books. This shows that, like many on the spectrum, he has difficulty applying social knowledge to specific situations. Bottomer compares Mr. Collins’s dislike of novels to Temple Grandin’s. She strongly prefers nonfiction to “novels with complicated interpersonal relationships,” which are more challenging for autistic people to understand. (A more recent study has shown this is not true of all autistic people. Autistic children, like neurotypical children, tend to prefer fiction over nonfiction.)

Bottomer analyzes Collins’s unsympathetic letter to the Bennets about Lydia’s elopement. She concludes that Mr. Collins will be a poor clergyman, unable to give emotional support to the people of his parish. This is likely true, since Collins is proud and judgmental. However, Austen presents Mr. Collins more as someone from a disadvantaged background, with a miserly, illiterate (meaning not well-educated) father, who is trying to operate in spheres of society he did not grow up in. He may also be neurodivergent, we don’t know for sure.

Like some (but not all!) people on the spectrum, Mr. Collins prefers nonfiction to novels.

Mary and Lydia Bennet

I was surprised to see both Mary and Lydia included here, as they are so opposite in personality.

Bottomer diagnoses Mary as having “mild to moderate autism.” Mary is intellectual, preferring to deal with ideas rather than feelings. She is unaware of how those around her react to her, as evidenced by her singing at the Netherfield Ball and not understanding Elizabeth’s signals to her to stop. The author considers Mary’s admiration of Mr. Collins to be “a case of like minds being attracted to each other.” She quotes a study* which found that women with mild autism were usually in relationships with mildly autistic men. Men on the spectrum, on the other hand, gravitated toward relationships with neurotypical women, as Mr. Collins does. So, as many readers have concluded, Mary might have been a good match for Mr. Collins. (*Maxine Aston, Aspergers in Love, 2003)

Lydia, according to the author, also has “poorly developed social skills.” She interrupts Mr. Collins, dominates conversations regardless of others’ lack of interest (as Mr. Collins does), and fails to modulate the volume of her voice appropriately. Her conversation and actions are often inappropriate for the situation. This, of course, could be because she is an impetuous, undisciplined teenager. Bottomer thinks Lydia has both Asperger’s and ADHD. Apparently, autistic children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to predators, as “they cannot always figure out when they are being lied to or used.” This makes Lydia unable to recognize Wickham’s deceptions.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet

While Austen mentions Mr. Bennet’s “sarcastic humour,” Bottomer suggests reading Mr. Bennet’s words as literal comments rather than wit. Mrs. Bennet talks about “a single man of large fortune” benefiting her daughters, while Mr. Bennet asks “How so? How can it affect them?” Surely, he must have known the answer. Bottomer writes, “Difficulty with drawing inferences and ‘reading between the lines’ is common among the majority of those on the spectrum.” Here it does seem as if he is being witty, however.

Throughout the novel, Mr. Bennet shows a lack of empathy for his wife and daughters. He has been irresponsible in raising them. Bottomer makes the excellent point that Mr. Bennet knew about the entail, and he should have provided for his wife and daughters in at least one of three ways, perhaps all three. He could have set aside money for them, at least starting when Lydia was born fifteen years previously. He could have given them good educations so they could support themselves as governesses if needed. And he could have brought them to London to connect them with suitable men to marry. But he has done none of these things, absorbed only in himself. They could literally be homeless and destitute when he dies. Even knowing this, he never takes seriously their need to find husbands.

Is he just a totally self-absorbed, selfish man? Is Mrs. Bennet’s silliness (though she is more realistic than he is) the cause of his ill-treatment of her? As Bottomer points out, we do not accept “she asked for it” as an excuse for physical abuse, and it should not justify emotional abuse either. Is the truth instead that Mr. Bennet is unable to empathize, unable to understand and respond to the complex emotions of others? Bottomer characterizes him as “severely impaired,” unable to protect his daughters and care for his wife.

Mrs. Bennet, while not highly educated, recognizes her husband’s emotional abuse. (“How can you abuse your own children in such a way?” she asks him. And, “You have no compassion on my poor nerves.”) Due to her husband’s neglect of his family, Mrs. Bennet is anxious, which exacerbates characteristics of autism. Bottomer says, “Although Mrs. Bennet shows some autistic spectrum traits, particularly difficulty with both voice modulation and empathy, as well as a tendency to focus on minor details, these are comparatively mild.” Unlike her husband, she enjoys social interactions, but she often does not pick up on social cues.

Does autism help keep Mr. and Mrs. Bennet from connecting with each other?

Darcy and His Family

You can guess from this why Bottomer classifies Anne De Bourgh and her mother Lady Catherine as on the spectrum. Darcy is more interesting.

Bottomer writes, “In my opinion it is not pride but subtle autism that is the major reason for Darcy’s frequent silences, awkward behaviour at social events and the monologue that he, like Mr. Collins, delivers the first time he proposes to Elizabeth.” She explains many of Darcy’s actions as the results of mild autism. Positively, he is able to recognize his social errors and work to improve them. This is a long and intriguing chapter which I will not attempt to summarize here.

Austen identifies Darcy’s main difficulty as pride. Certainly he is proud and has to repent of that and change. I’m willing to consider that he may also have mild neurodivergent traits that he and Elizabeth have to learn to work with.

How Did Austen Know?

In the conclusion section, the author first speculates on what kind of “happily ever after” these characters might have experienced—the Bennets, the Wickhams, the Collinses, and of course the Darcys. JAFF writers, take note! She concludes that Elizabeth, who loves “intricate characters,” may enjoy her husband’s complex character.

Then the author addresses the question that bothered me throughout the book. “How Did Austen Know?” Of course these conditions were not diagnosed until long after her lifetime. Bottomer simply says that Austen was “extremely observant.” But observant of whom? Bottomer gives brief quotes from Austen’s letters about people that appeared odd, shy, or quiet. The author speculates that, in Jane’s own family, her cousin Edward Cooper, three of her brothers (including George, who had an unidentified disability), her suitor Harris Bigg-Wither, her Aunt Leigh-Perrot, and even her mother might possibly have been on the spectrum.

Her evidence here seems weak and speculative. As she concludes, “Given that individuals on the autistic spectrum are puzzling enough to understand even when they live and breathe among us, those in the dust of time are impossible for us to decipher.”

Jane Austen may have woven the traits of these “intricate and unique individuals” into the “unforgettable characters” we all know and love. She obviously was not intending to present these characters as “on the spectrum,” an unknown idea at the time. But probably she knew people with at least some degree of the behaviors she gives her characters.

While I can’t judge these diagnoses, I did find it entertaining and interesting to think about the traits of the people in Pride and Prejudice from this particular perspective. And it was helpful to learn more about autism in the process.

A Janeite on the Spectrum

To close, I want to share some comments from a Janeite friend, Frances, who founded the Jane Austen Society of Aotearoa New Zealand and identifies as autistic. (She has not yet read So Odd a Mixture.) She says:

“It’s always difficult to judge characters by modern standards, to attach labels they wouldn’t use, but it can help us understand them better. (I’m guilty of it. In fact, my talk for Virtual Jane Con next month is about whether Charlotte Lucas is aromantic. An even newer term.) Autism has always existed but wasn’t identified until relatively recently, and we’re still gaining new understandings – it’s not just men (hi, look at me :-).”

Would you identify any of the characters in P&P as autistic?

“Yes. It could be argued that Mr. Darcy, Mr. Collins and Mary Bennet are autistic. They all struggle with knowing how to behave in social situations and understanding others. Mary Bennet in the recent adaptation of The Other Bennet Sister is easier to see as autistic.”

Are there any that you relate to because they share some of those characteristics with you?

“I’ve heard many people relate to Mr. Darcy at the Netherfield Ball, not just me. Socialising with a room full of strangers, let alone strangers staring and talking about you, is awful. For a long time I didn’t want to relate to Mary Bennet, but I am very like her (luckily, I’m pretty :-). I spent most of my childhood with my head buried in a book and I still don’t understand the things neurotypical people say.”

 

I would love to hear from you, gentle readers, especially if you consider yourself on the autistic spectrum. Do you see any of the Pride and Prejudice characters as neurodivergent? Does it help you to relate to them? Do you see autistic traits in any Austen characters from the other novels?

 

So Odd a Mixture was published in 2007. Be aware that some terminology in it is outdated. Phyllis Bottomer also has an article in the 2007 volume of Persuasions, for those who have been in JASNA that long; it’s not online, though. Her 2010 Persuasions On-Line article on ASD and John and Isabella Thorpe is available online.

The reviewer, Brenda S. Cox, is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.