Sanditon

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1925

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 9 Summary

This chapter begins with the unexpected arrival of Diana, Susan, and Arthur Parker. Diana is a talkative woman, slight rather than sickly. Diana immediately examines Mr. Parker’s ankle to see how it is healing before discussing the two families that she has secured to stay at the hotel. She describes the Antiguans as a proper, respectable family named the Griffiths. Diana heard through the grapevine that the Griffiths were looking for a place to rest because of their poor health. Diana proudly describes how she ensured that the Griffiths would come to Sanditon. A young woman named Miss Lambe, who Diana knows is a woman of great fortune but bad health, is traveling with the Griffiths. Since Diana, Arthur, and Susan feel so deeply for anyone experiencing sickness, they decided that they should go to Sanditon to help the Griffiths in any way they can.

Mr. Parker is overjoyed that Diana has brought these families to Sanditon, and he praises her selfless attitude despite her health problems. Charlotte, however, thinks Diana is self-important and selfish. Diana acknowledges that, despite being an extremely sick woman, she finds it in herself to help people. Diana believes that the world is divided between people who act to help others and those who do not.

Before she leaves, Diana admits that she does not know the second family’s name but that one of Sidney’s friends recommended they travel to Sanditon.

Chapter 10 Summary

Diana Parker settles in to life at Sanditon, even though it has only been a week since she claimed that the sea air would kill her. After being around Diana, Charlotte wonders how many of Diana’s disorders are valid. Often, she thinks, wealthy people who do not have enough to do become consumed with their health and nerves. Since Mr. Parker is an imaginative person, Charlotte believes it likely that his sisters have the same imagination. The Parker sisters are either overly busy helping other people or are too sick to get out of bed. They are inclined to believe in natural remedies and “quack medicine,” and, while they are charitable, their kindness comes from a desire to be praised.

The next day, Charlotte meets Susan and Arthur. Susan is similar to Diana, although slightly more reserved and thinner because of the many medicines she takes. Despite the Parker family’s claims about Arthur’s frailty, Charlotte is surprised to see that he is a tall, well-built young man whose only physical indication of sickliness is that he has no color in his cheeks. Charlotte grows exasperated by her conversation with Arthur because it always leads back to his health. The sisters scold Arthur for making his coco so rich and indulgent, but Charlotte is heartened by this because it shows that Arthur is not trying to starve himself. Arthur’s eating habits cause Charlotte to conclude that Arthur acts the way he does because of a desire for indulgence and luxury.

A letter arrives for Diana. She reads it and tells the group that it is a letter of introduction from the hotel from a family that has arrived that is also named Griffiths. Diana believes that there are two Mrs. Griffiths and two Miss Lambes coming to visit, even though the rest of the group insists that they must be one family. Diana refuses to believe that she has made a mistake and rushes to the hotel to discover the truth about the visitors.

Chapter 11 Summary

Although it pains Diana to admit her mistake, it becomes clear that the girls’ boarding school family and the family from Antigua are the same group. Despite Mr. Parker’s disappointment, Diana does not take long to get over the embarrassment of her mistake, especially since she can blame her friend and the string of letters that got her to this place.

Mrs. Griffiths is a pleasant woman who has three young ladies under her care: Miss Lambe and two Miss Beauforts. Miss Lambe is the most important of the three young women since she is an heiress. She is 17 years old, half Antiguan and half British, has her own personal maid, and occupies the finest room in the house. The two Miss Beauforts are not nearly as educated or refined as Miss Lambe, but they attract a great deal of attention because they know how to dress fashionably.

Lady Denham begins calling on the newcomers, believing that Miss Lambe—a sickly, young heiress—would make a perfect wife for Edward. Miss Lambe takes several prescriptions from her doctor that Mrs. Griffiths oversees, and therefore Miss Lambe’s activities are limited. The Miss Beauforts take advantage of their view from the balcony and draw or play music with the windows open so that men below can catch a glimpse of them from the sidewalk.

Chapter 12 Summary

Charlotte and Mrs. Parker prepare for a visit to Sanditon House. Mr. Parker, who is not able to go with them on their visit, tells Mrs. Parker to ask Lady Denham for charity for the poor. Diana takes this opportunity to tell Mrs. Parker to ask for charity as well—she then proceeds to list several people she knows who could benefit from Lady Denham’s money. When Mrs. Parker refuses, Diana says she would do it herself but she has to help Miss Lambe face her fear of bathing in the ocean. Diana goes on about the list of things she has to do that day, including attending to Susan while she has leeches on her, all while she is sick and should be in bed all day. After hearing this, Mr. Parker tells his wife to forget about asking Lady Denham for money; he will do it himself the next time he sees her. As a result, Diana has to withdraw her request as well.

Charlotte and Mrs. Parker leave for Sanditon House. On their way, they meet Sidney Parker, who is on his way to Trafalgar House. Sidney is a handsome, relaxed, and engaging man. He tells them that he will meet them back at the house in a few hours. When Charlotte and Mrs. Parker arrive at the house, Charlotte sees Clara Brereton and Edward sitting close together in one of the gardens. Their closeness and apparent intimacy suggest to Charlotte that they may be lovers. Charlotte is the only person who sees them, and they do not realize that they have been seen.

Charlotte enters the house with Mrs. Parker, and they are led into the sitting room. Lady Denham has not come down yet, so Charlotte wanders around the room. Mrs. Parker tells Charlotte that a large portrait hanging over the mantlepiece depicts Sir Denham. She points out another, smaller portrait on the other side of the room: Mr. Hollis. From the size and the way that they are situated, it is hard not to feel bad for poor Mr. Hollis, who must sit in his own house and see the mantlepiece used for another man.

Chapters 9-12 Analysis

With the arrival of the Parker sisters, the novel’s exploration of the connections between Leisure, Health, and Vanity reaches its peak. Diana hides her self-importance and vanity behind a façade of kindness and self-sacrifice. Despite her claim that the sea air will kill her, she bustles around and shows no outward sign of illness. It becomes clear through Susan and Arthur’s behaviors that the siblings feed off each other’s fear of illness. The more Charlotte interacts with the sisters, the more she understands that “disorders and recoveries so very much out of the common way, seemed more like the amusement of eager minds in want of employment than of actual afflictions or relief” (100). Susan and Diana’s busyness reveals their own vanity and pride, rather than a need to help other people. They imagine themselves ill for a related reason: because it makes their strivings on behalf of the poor appear that much more heroic. Diana herself makes this connection explicit when she says that she must always be “very busy for the good of others, or else extremely ill” (100). The sisters’ effect on Arthur is painful for Charlotte to watch because Arthur exhibits learned behaviors. Austen further highlights the tediousness of this topic through dialogue. In the conversations between Arthur and Charlotte, whatever comment Charlotte makes, Arthur turns it back to a conversation about health through long descriptions of his own self-diagnosed symptoms. Charlotte realizes through her interaction with Arthur that his “enjoyments of invalidism were very different than his sisters—by no means so spiritualized” (104-05). Arthur enjoys his illness because he gets a sense of identity from it, yet his sister’s enjoyment comes from a kind of spirituality: If they can control their remedies, tinctures, and salts, then they have a possibility of controlling the outcome of their lives.

The health concerns of the Parker siblings also illustrate The Social Effects of Economic Inequality. Because of their social class, the Parkers have an abundant amount of time. They are not weighed down by labor or financial worries, and therefore they fill their time with obsessing over their health or interfering in other people’s business. As Charlotte begins to work through and develop her skill of seeing people for who they truly are, her introduction to Diana brings about thoughts of Diana’s “unaccountable officiousness!—activity run mad!” (98). Austen’s critique of the wealthy is that they have too much time on their hands and no real sense of what to do with that time. Implied in her satirical depiction of the Parkers is that only wealthy people have the privilege of this kind of worry.

The relationship between Mr. Parker and Lady Denham further satirizes the power of the upper class and The Corrupting Power of Ambition. Although Mr. Parker is wealthy, he does not have Lady Denham’s level of power and influence. Therefore, he is dependent on her wealth to turn Sanditon into a beach resort. An example of the tenuousness of their relationship appears in the beginning of Chapter 12 when Mr. Parker asks his wife to request money for the poor from Lady Denham. Since Diana interjects with a long list of requests for people she knows, showing the type of parasitic behavior that Lady Denham hates, Mr. Parker withdraws his request. This shows Mr. Parker’s understanding that he must make Lady Denham happy to ensure that he gets what he wants. He knows that acting like her hated relatives will not help him with his agenda would upset her. In different ways, everyone in Lady Denham’s circle is corrupted by the power of her wealth—because they need her support, they are forced to make different choices and judgments than they would otherwise make.

Chapter 12 ends abruptly—this is the point where Austen set down her pen, likely due to the worsening effects of her illness. Although it is impossible to tell what she intended for the end of the novel, this fragment reveals a sharply satirical tone and several strong themes. The final line of the novel—describing the portrait of Mr. Hollis as relegated to a forgotten corner while that of Sir Denham sits above the mantel—is a morbidly humorous jab at the frivolous social hierarchies of 19th-century English life: Even in death, Mr. Hollis and Sir Denham are jockeying for position.