In the novel Persuasion, Jane Austin presents a story about the marriage of the main character Anne Elliot. In doing so, she paints a picture of British society in the early 1800s, when Britain was ending its war with France. She writes about the British Empire, characterized by the return of naval officers home, and she writes about the social divisions of the time in the form of distinction between different classes of society. The major change that seems to occur in the novel at this time is the social upheaval caused by Navy men returning from war with enough prestige and money to associate (and even marry) with those of the Navy. old class of landowners. This is characterized by Anne's reunion with Frederick Wentworth, a Naval officer. Before the major upheaval happened, Jane Austin gives us a glimpse of what social life was like, class distinction, through the perspective of Ann Elliot. Ann is the second of three daughters of Sir Walter Elliot, the proud head of the family (Austen, aged 2). The Elliots are an old landowning family who seem well known in the upper echelons of British society. The most important piece of context presented to us as being central to the plot of the story is that eight years prior to the setting, Ann was engaged to a man she loved, Frederick Wentworth. They were soon engaged, but her family and mother figure, Lady Russell, soon persuaded Ann that marriage was not appropriate because Frederick Wentworth was inherently unworthy without money or prestige (Austen, 30). This element of context echoes the exclusivity among Britain's upper classes. At that time, it would seem unacceptable that a girl like Ann with a family like hers would marry or even associate with someone who was not from... middle of paper ...... and their success and their achievements sparked social change. for British society this could be seen as more valuable than further militaristic expansion. Men like Captain Frederick Wentworth ended the exclusive status of landowning gentry like Sir Walter Elliot. Anne thought that Captain Wentworth possessed better values ​​than the vain Sir Walter Elliot. His social status was acquired through his achievements in the Royal Navy rather than by birth. The historical picture that can therefore be concluded from Persuasion is that joining the Royal Navy allowed men greater social mobility in the early 1800s than ever before. Frederick Wentworth started out as a nobody, but later became a wealthy naval officer married to Anne Elliot, who was previously too high in the social hierarchy for him to be associated with. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Persuasion. Np: np, electronic sd.