The human brain is constantly creating, imagining, thinking, and even forgetting thousands, maybe even millions, of ideas daily. These ideas could be something completely ludicrous or practical, but due to the amount of ideas, we barely scratch the surface of their true potential. "What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant." David Foster Wallace perfectly displays this aspect of human nature through this quote and also provides a new, exhilarating understanding of the mind of Michel de Montaigne. Montaigne's writing style was based on the concept of stream of consciousness, which is allowing your thoughts to captivate a page without over-analyzing it like a painter with a paintbrush and an empty canvas. He attacks both serious and frivolous subjects with a sense of openness, honesty, and reality that resembles Jane Austen's style of writing in Pride and Prejudice. Although, Jane Austen writes in a much more delicate manner unlike Montaigne, who holds nothing back and allows his ideas jumble with the pages of his essays. She still remains loyal to her style and themes in order to portray her story in a realistic light. These authors may have written their pieces of literature at extremely different times, but both authors are focus on one goal, which is to portray their story to their audience in a realistic, veracious manner.
Montaigne's Essays are the essence of the human mind because the style in which his essays are based on are considered the natural flow of ideas or concepts within his mind. He is able to touch and explain various ideas within his essays without losing the focus of his audience. His style can be confusing at times, but his sense of honesty and reality never falters. Now, during some parts of his essays, Montaigne does go into depth on serious topics that either connect with his ideas or his own personal experiences, which display his true emotions such as his own illness, the deaths of some of his family, and his struggle with depression. Emotions are very significant is Jane Austen's writing as well because they have a certain, human truth to them that allows readers to connect on an emotional and mental level. Now, Montaigne is not as emotional or subtle as Austen's writing, but the idea of natural thinking and emotions are present in both pieces of literature. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth's point of view on Mr. Darcy is extremely negative and as the story progresses, we see a growth in Elizabeth as she becomes closer to both Darcy and the truth. This growth expresses a natural process of change that is meant to bring her audience closer to the characters even though her book is fiction. Now, unlike Austen, Montaigne is writing for himself and not to please others, which is why his writing is more confusing, but the main point is that both are trying to elicit an emotional, natural connection.
The major difference between these two authors that pertains to their style of writing is the difference in time. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813 while Montaigne's Essays was published about 230 years prior in 1580. Despite the difference in time, these authors are still able to share and stay true to their writing style. Now, these two authors had opposing views such as their views of woman and society. Jane Austen portrayed women as strong and confident, while Montaigne didn't think much of them and treated them with less respect, but that doesn't make one point less than the other. Both of their points of views possess a quality of strength and truth, which were either common or opposing ideals in their particular time period, but it's up to the reader to decide whether Austen's or Montaigne's literature pertains to them.
The flow in which the human mind follows is erratic yet systematic. The constant array of ideas that jumble within our minds leads to a brighter and bolder future for ourselves and for the world around us. Montaigne's Essays display with enticing style of thought along with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that gives the audience a new sense of reality. Although these authors have a different approach to the way they write and are from two different time periods, the message of honesty, reality, and the natural process of thought is crystal clear.
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