Jane Austen here sets social snobbery against summer picnics; social rejection against the passion of real love. Her warm portrait of the relationship between two very different sisters contrasts with her precise observation of the vanity, selfishness and snobbery of their society.

　　　　This novel lays bare the stratagems the hypocrisy and the poignancy inherent in the struggles of two very different sisters to achieve respectability. Elinor's character is one of Augustan detachment, while Marianne, a disciple of the Romantic Age, learns to curb her passionate nature.