Pride and Prejudice and Londonderry, New Hampshire: Difference between pages

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[[Image:pride_n_prejudice.jpg|thumb|210px|''Pride and Prejudice'' book cover]]

'''Londonderry, New Hampshire''' is a town located in western [[Rockingham County, New Hampshire]]. Originally called Nutfield, along with the communities of Derry, Windham, and parts of New Hampshire's largest city [[Manchester]] for the prevalance of nut trees in the area. As of the [[2000]] census, the town had a total population of 23,236. Londonderry is known especially for its apple orchards, including Moose Hill Orchards (Mack's Apples), located along [[Mammoth Road]] (Route 128) one of the major roads through Londonderry along with Route 102 (Nashua Road), I-93, Pillsbury Road, Litchfield Road, and Route 28.

'''''Pride and Prejudice''''' is the most famous of [[Jane Austen]]'s novels. It was written between [[1796]] and [[1797]], and was initially called ''First Impressions.'' Revised in [[1811]], it was published two years later in [[1813]] by the same Mr. Egerton, of the [[Military Library]], [[Whitehall]], who had brought out ''[[Sense and Sensibility]]''. Like both its predecessor and ''[[Northanger Abbey]]'', it was written at [[Steventon Rectory]].

== Plot summaryEducation ==

Londonderry has five schools, with Superintendant Nathan Greenberg.

{{spoiler}}

* Londonderry High School (9-12) - The largest school in the town, home to "The Lancers," and principled by James E. Elefante.

* Londonderry Middle School (6-8) - Principled by Andrew Corey. Formerly called Londonderry Junior High School.

* North School (K-5) - Currently under construction

* Matthew Thornton (K-5) - Named for a [[Revolutionary War]] hero.

* South School (K-5) - Recently renovated due to a mold issue.

* Moose Hill School (pre-K, K) - Largest free standing public kindergarten in the state of [[New Hampshire]]. Also houses preschool and LEEP program.

== Geography ==

This story deals with issues surrounding marriage in the late [[18th century]] and early [[19th century]]. The main character is [[Elizabeth Bennet]], a twenty-year-old middle-class girl possessed of a quick mind, sharp wit, and keen sense of justice. Elizabeth's father, [[Mr. Bennet]], spends much of his time hiding in his study, a refuge from Elizabeth's mother. [[Mrs. Bennet]] (whose manners and conduct are decidedly "of the people") is determined to see each of her five daughters successfully married to gentlemen of sufficient fortune to support a wife. The Bennet family estate is entailed to a cousin - [[Mr. Collins]] - due to the lack of male heirs in the Bennet family. Collins is a clergyman who tends to be wordy and snobbish, and is forever searching for opportunities to drop the name of his patroness, Lady [[Catherine de Bourgh]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of 108.6 [[square kilometer|km²]] (41.9 [[square mile|mi²]]). 108.3 km² (41.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.31% water.

== Demographics ==

Having been rejected by Elizabeth, Mr. Collins turns to Elizabeth's best friend [[Charlotte Lucas]], and they are soon married - to Mrs. Bennet's profound disappointment. Mrs. Bennet's hopes are raised, however, by the presence in the district of a wealthy young man, [[Mr. Bingley]], and his handsome but proud friend, [[Mr. Darcy]], to whom Elizabeth immediately takes a dislike.

As of the [[census]][[Geographic references#2|²]] of [[2000]], there are 23,236 people, 7,623 households, and 6,319 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] is 214.6/km² (555.8/mi²). There are 7,718 housing units at an average density of 71.3/km² (184.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 96.92% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.56% [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black]] or [[Race (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.17% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 1.16% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.03% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.32% from [[Race (U.S. Census)|other races]], and 0.84% from two or more races. 1.53% of the population are [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race.

There are 7,623 households out of which 50.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.9% are [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 8.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 17.1% are non-families. 12.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 3.3% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.05 and the average family size is 3.36.

Elizabeth is wooed by [[Mr. Wickham]], an officer in the militia whom she considers "gentlemanlike", and whose side she takes in his quarrel with Mr. Darcy, who has gradually come to admire Elizabeth. Mr. Wickham later proves himself to be a cad and of poor character, seducing Elizabeth's youngest sister, [[Lydia Bennet|Lydia]]. This follows his earlier attempt to seduce Mr. Darcy's beloved younger sister, [[Georgiana Darcy|Georgiana]]. When Mr. Darcy hears of this new affair and sees Elizabeth's distress, he decides to help her, and takes it upon himself to bribe Mr. Wickham and persuade him to marry Lydia. Elizabeth gradually learns to see through Mr. Darcy's apparent flaws and realizes that the pride she saw in him at first is only shyness and she grows to love him. Mr. Darcy realizes Elizabeth's change and proposes a second time. Elizabeth accepts.

In the town the population is spread out with 32.9% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 5.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 97.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 95.1 males.

== Themes ==

Marriage plays a large role in Pride and Prejudice. Some characters marry for security, some marry for wealth and some marry for love. While Jane Austen does not satirise the institution of marriage, she does in fact satirise women's role in marriage. The idea of marriage is very important throughout the novel.

Social classes are also taken into account and play a major role as a theme in Pride and Prejudice. People of higher class are very proud of themselves and do not like to socialise with those of lower class. A pure example is Darcy when we first meet him. Also, the Bingley sisters often talk together about the way people of lower classes act and look bitterly upon them. It is also seen as bad for people of higher classes to mingle with lower classes, but Bingley puts this idea away and proves to be a very social character.

The median income for a household in the town is $70,501, and the median income for a family is $73,513. Males have a median income of $50,566 versus $33,821 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town is $26,491. 2.1% of the population and 1.6% of families are below the [[poverty line]]. Out of the total population, 1.2% of those under the age of 18 and 6.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

== Film and Television Adaptations==

''Pride and Prejudice'' has been the subject of many film and television adaptations [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000807/].

== Town Policy ==

*[[2005]]: [[Pride and Prejudice (2005 movie)|Pride and Prejudice]], starring [[Keira Knightley]] and [[Matthew MacFadyen]].

Londonderry has been known for town policy that aims to limit development and growth in town. The town has recently been in the news for a legal fight involving the eviction of Robert Saulnier.

*[[2004]]: [[Bride and Prejudice]], the [[Bollywood]] version, directed by [[Gurinder Chadha]] and starring [[Anupam Kher]], [[Aishwarya Rai]], and [[Naveen Andrews]].

== External links ==

*[[2003]]: [[Pride and Prejudice (2003 movie)|Pride and Prejudice]].

*[http://www.londonderrynh.org Official Town Website]

*[http://www.londonderry.org Londonderry School District]

[[Category:Rockingham County, New Hampshire]]

*[[2001]]: [[Bridget Jones's Diary (2001 film)|Bridget Jones's Diary]] with [[Colin Firth]] as Darcy.

[[Category:Towns in New Hampshire]]

*[[1995]]: [[Pride and Prejudice (BBC)|Pride and Prejudice]], the BBC production, starring [[Colin Firth]] as Darcy and [[Jennifer Ehle]] as Elizabeth.

*[[1940]]: [[Pride and Prejudice (1940 movie)|Pride and Prejudice]] starring [[Laurence Olivier]] in the role of Darcy, and [[Greer Garson]] as Elizabeth.

There were five additional BBC television productions of ''Pride and Prejudice'', made in 1938, 1952, 1958, 1967, and 1980.

==Trivia==

* The [[1995]] [[Pride and Prejudice (BBC)]] version used [[Lyme Hall]], [[Cheshire]] as the ___location for "[[Pemberley]]".

* In [[2003]] the BBC conducted the largest ever poll for the "[[Big Read|UK's Best-Loved Book]]" in which Pride and Prejudice came second.

* Author [[Philip Jose Farmer]] has placed Elizabeth and Darcy (and their descendants) in his [[Wold Newton family]].

==See also==

*[[First Impressions]], [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical version of ''Pride and Prejudice''

==External links==

{{wikisource}}

{{wikiquote}}

*{{gutenberg|no=1342|name=Pride and Prejudice}}

*[http://rss.duchs.com/austen/pride-and-prejudice/ RSS Version of Pride and Prejudice] The text in the [[RSS (file format)|RSS]] version

*[http://romance-books.classic-literature.co.uk/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice/ Pride and Prejudice] - in easy to read HTML format.

[[Category:1813 books]]

[[Category:British novels]]

[[Category:Jane Austen novels]]

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