Jane Austen's novels as a guide to social and individual responsibility for high school students

Jane Austen's novels are particularly appropriate for adolescents. These classics deal with topics of high interest to young people: money, family relationships and obligations, headstrong behavior, and society's rules, all combined in the romantic interplay between the sexes. Indeed, some critics have accused Austen of writing the same book over and over again, in that they deal exhaustively with finding appropriate partners for young people. Yet, each is concerned with personal integrity in different circumstances. Austen grapples with the question of what the individual owes to society and what he or she is obliged to tolerate in the way of strictures on behavior, a question that is especially relevant for adolescents.