Jane Austen and Love

My mom and I have recently started a book group. We read one Jane Austen book (ie, Persuasion) or something similar per month, and then get together and discuss it with other moms and their teenage daughters. After the discussion, we'll watch the movie that went along with the book.
Along with it is a "Dating Notebook" where we record things about guys and relationships.

Here are some of the questions we were asked to ponder and write about:

How they make choices:

• What most often appears to motivate them to act the way they do or say what they say
• How do they decide how to live their life?
• What epistemology do they use? For example:  revelation (spiritual confirmation), reason (intellectual), feelings (romanticism), empiricism (science), pragmatism (it works), credentialism (the experts say this is how to live), fraternalism (it is the way my circle of friends lives), traditionalism (it's always been done this way), historisism (learning from the past), aesthetism (if it is beautiful, it is good)
• What are the consequences of their choices?

Their relationships:

• How do they treat or talk about people they dislike and what do they do about that relationship?
• How do they treat or talk about people they like and what do they do about that relationship?
• How do they treat their family or those closest to them?
• If your character falls in love - how do they act toward the person they are in love with? 

How they change:

• How do they find out what they nee to improve on?
• What do they do to improve themselves?

 

 Feel free to share other questions or things you find interesting to discuss and take notice of.

 

 It would be ideal for you to keep your dating notebook for when you date or start dating - you can start writing down the names of the young men you date and their characteristics you liked and disliked while you were on your date.  Just be sure you keep it in a safe place - or make code names for the young men just to be safe ;-) I remember Gordon B. Hinkley telling the youth to "be wise beyond your years" when dating and choosing an eternal companion.  A study of character will greatly help you - particularly if you take this character study to improve your own character. You will largely attract the kind of young men who value what you value.