The Maasverse: Review of Sarah J. Maas's Most Popular Series

     

I'm betting you have all heard of Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City. For those of you that have read all of them, I'm sorry for all of emotional trauma those books gave you, I was also scarred. This may sound scary but I promise these books are actually really good, it is just super easy to get really emotionally invested in them and Sarah (for some unknowable reason) just loves to throw in heart-breaking plot twists. I have read all three of these series about 8 or 9 times and I will continue to do so because I just love these books. Sarah is known for her strong female heroes and dynamic character relationships so get ready to absolutely fall in love with each world she creates.

Throne of Glass (TOG) is quite possibly the best book series I have ever read. It follows the Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan's Assassin, as she goes from a slave in the salt mines of Endovier to King's Champion, to fugitive, and so much more. This book is full of magic, fae, romance, heartbreak, and everything in between.  Celaena is one of my favorite characters in all of Sarah's books because I just resonate so well with her.

                                                       

A Court of Thorns and Roses, or ACOTAR as many people call it, is a story about a human girl, Feyre, who accidentally kills a fae in his animal form and then gets taken over the barrier separating the human and fae lands (Pyrinthian). She falls for the High Lord Tamlin and then has to go and save him and his whole court when they get taken under the mountain by Amarantha. This series is a bit slower to start than Throne of Glass but you will fall in love with the characters just as fast.

                                                      

Crescent City (CC), the place where it all comes together. So I listed these three series in this order specifically because of the way things come together in CC. You don't have to read them like this, I just recommend it. CC follows Bryce and Hunt as they uncover heaps of crime, corruption, and overall heart stopping truths about the planet of Midguard. They and their friends almost die several times trying to save the city and everyone in it only to find out that the truth is so much bigger than they thought. For those of you who love witty and snarky humor, Bryce is the girl for you. She is hilarious in all aspects and will say the best jokes at the worst times.

                                                       

I wanted to share my love and knowledge about this bookverse and I hope you guys love reading it just as much as I do!

From Pens to Keyboards: Looking back at the history of Coe College's Writing Center

Dr. Bob Marrs: Original Founder and Director of the Writing Center

Dr. Bob Marrs

Dr. Marrs was essentially the "founding father" figure of the writing center at Coe College. Dr. Marrs wound up at Coe because his wife (Professor Margie Marrs) was hired to teach in the music department. She's actually still a faculty member of the music department 47 years later.

Marrs remembers his hiring process like it was yesterday. “Second year that she was teaching, 1980, I was contacted by the English Second Language department to teach a course; first year seminar for international students," he said. "And so, I taught that course and it went ok…they continued to hire me.”

After several years of work as an English professor, Marrs was comfortable in his position at Coe. However, a new opportunity would arrive. In 1984, the faculty of the college voted to make some major changes in the curriculum. One of those changes was to create a writing program, a writing center, and a writing cross curriculum program. Coe College advertised the position for someone that would be the coordinator/director of the writing center.

Dr. Mars was initially unsure of the opportunity. “I actually was not going to apply because I wasn't qualified. I didn't have any experience.”

Lucky for Dr. Marrs, those in the English department contacted him and encouraged him to apply. With support from fellow peers, Dr. Marrs applied and the rest is history!

“I was hired to direct a writing center and I had never been in a writing center and really knew nothing, nothing about them," he said. "So the summer before the writing center started, I read a couple articles and figured, oh, we can figure this out," Marrs recalls.

And so it all started, the fall of 1986, with seven people working in the writing center: five people on work study and two (unpaid) volunteers. These are the kind of humble beginnings that are scripted in a classic Hollywood underdog story.

Dr. Marrs' Visions and Goals

CWC original location in Stuart Hall (1986)

A lasting impact can be felt from Dr. Marrs' tenure as writing center director. Marrs adopted the philosophy of the writing center in the summer before it opened. A primary fundamental was the idea that writing is the process of conversation.

“You're having a conversation with yourself and with an audience, imaginary audiences in some cases, and talking about your writing became a way to practice doing the writing,” said Marrs.

The importance of conversation in the writing center frequently comes up when you talk to Marrs. He set out to find consultants that were able to effectively communicate with students. 

“Our real product in the writing center is going to be the conversations, that's what's critical," he recalls. "And so right from the beginning, with regard to hiring people, I didn't always particularly care whether they were good writers or not.” 

I believe this theory holds true in the writing center today. One thing I love about being a consultant is that we aren’t expected to edit and correct one’s entire paper. Instead, our job is to employ tactical conservation to help assist student writing. 

“I realized that we were reading way too many papers and I put a major emphasis, much more of an emphasis than previously was the case with regard to the importance of conversation about the paper”, says Marrs.

During Marrs's time as a director, the Writing Center moved several times, but it always kept the same conversation-based approach. It is truly amazing how these decisions by Dr. Marrs created a “conversational” conferencing culture that the CWC has experienced for the past 38 years. Within a five year span, a culture and vision of the Coe College Writing Center had been built. Every consultant bought in! The CWC was off and running.

As a group, consultants went to the College Composition and Communication Conference. Dr. Marrs’ consultants gave a number of presentations at those conferences while he was director.  They would present at conferences with between 4000-5000 people.

“Not everybody would attend our presentations, but that's where we really established a kind of a national reputation," he said. "We had a lot of people that came to visit the Coe Writing Center because of those presentations,” Mars explains.

This national brand really helped the status of Coe College as a whole. Soon, the entire country was captivated by the CWC.

“We had two doctoral dissertations that were done to study the writing center because somebody (a doctoral student at the University of Iowa) heard a presentation that we gave in Kansas City, and he contacted me," Marrs describes. "He said he would like to do his dissertation and study the way in which we do writing conferences.”   

The last year when Dr. Marrs directed the writing center; Coe flew 30 people to a conference in San Diego. It is safe to say that our writing center has a history riddled with success.

Paper to Computers

Originally, consultants had to fill everything out on physical paper. It wasn’t absurd to see students coming in with handwritten essays. It also wasn’t out of the ordinary to fill out client report forms on paper, by hand. Consultants used paper forms to keep track of writing conferences all the time. In fact, tens of thousands of forms were created. Each paper form had descriptors such as, is this a text focused conference or a conversational conference? Consultants had to identify the various kinds of descriptors with regard to the conference as well as a short paragraph summarizing what happened in the conference. Sounds familiar, right?

Old School WCWC (Monthly Poster)

Current WCWC (Monthly Poster)

It didn't take long for computers to become widespread at public universities and private colleges. Consultants had to learn to help writers with new word-processing programs. But even as technology developed, there was still quite a discrepancy between back then and today. 

There were set hours for computer usage. In that era, there were labs since people didn't have their individual computer/laptop. It is kind of funny just to think how things have changed. When the Coe Writing Center opened, the CWC gave typing classes. There were many students coming into the college that had never typed or had never been taught.

At the same time, the CWC was still trying to learn how to use technology as a promotional tool. As we can see with the WCWC's, the older version looks stale. There is no color or any eye catching graphics. Meanwhile, the current WCWC's have visually appealing graphics and a QR code, making it easy for students to connect with the writing center. The CWC has come a long way when it comes to the technological sides of things.

Recap: What can We Takeaway from Our History?

Current CWC Logo

It is safe to say the Coe College Writing Center has undergone some changes. Yet, amazingly, the founding principles and values have remained the same through generations and generations. This storied history has built the powerful foundation upon which the CWC stands. It will be exciting to see what the next 38 years have in store for this program. Will new legacies and traditions be carved out? Who will be the next extraordinary consultant to leave their mark? How big or small will the CWC be? The possibilities are endless. 

I do know one thing for certain; the CWC will adapt in the ever changing world of higher education. It is this quality that will allow the CWC to flourish and continue to grow its national brand for years to come.

True Stories That Never Happened: "The Things They Carried" and "The Little Prince"

"The Little Prince", Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

What are "true stories that never happened"?

 

    "True stories that never happened" may sound like a contradictory phrase---after all, how can something be true if it was made up by the author? The phrase comes from "The Things They Carried", a series of short stories written by Tim O'Brien. O'Brien makes no effort to conceal the fictional nature of his stories, pointing out in asides that he fabricated certain events or characters in an act of metafictional acknowledgement of the author, but he nevertheless presents them with the same respect and conventions as non-fiction. 

    I define this "genre" that O'Brien employs as one that uses fantasy, metaphor, and fabricated scenes to represent true events that are abstract or hard to explain. Oftentimes, authors find themselves restricted by the "truth" of a story, which this genre puts to the sidelines. More than anything, these stories focus on getting the reader to feel the same emotions that the author feels regarding these events, even if that requires exaggerating or bending the truth. 

    I would argue that another story, "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, uses this same technique. Much like O'Brien, Saint-Exupery blurs the lines between true and untrue by placing himself and his own experiences into the narrative alongside fiction, making no effort to distinguish the two. This gives the story a personal, almost biographical nature despite its obvious use of fantasy.

    These stories have had a profound influence on my own approach to writing, and I think they provide an important view into the long-lasting impact of this style of storytelling. They point out the impact that this genre can have on a reader and the advantages of using fiction to describe these "true events" more accurately. Because these stories focus on emotion, they linger in the reader's mind much longer than non-fiction.

The Things They Carried

 

"The Things They Carried", Tim O'Brien

 

 

    "The Things They Carried" is a grim recollection of the Vietnam War, based on Tim O'Brien's own experiences as a member of the 23rd Infantry Division. It features fictional members of the infantry as protagonists, as well as O'Brien himself---or rather, a character bearing O'Brien's name. The book is told through non-chronological short stories and asides, gradually expanding on each character's relationships and experiences, mostly through O'Brien's point of view. 

 

Tim O'Brien, via NPR

    The most striking and memorable stories from this book, "On The Rainy River"; "The Man I Killed"; and "Speaking of Courage", make excellent use of its genre as a fictionalized truth.

"On the Rainy River"

    Set first chronologically, this story follows O'Brien after he learns that he's been drafted. Attempting to avoid his fate, he tries to run away to Canada by taking a boat across the titular Rainy River. However, as he makes his way down the river, people start appearing on the shores to convince him to leave/stay. These figures aren't just friends or family---soon he's being yelled at from either side by celebrities, fictional characters, cartoons, everyone he's ever known. He's eventually forced to confront his fears, and he's unable to bring himself to face the consequences of abandoning his country. 

    This story, while simple, showcases the strengths of this style of story telling. Rather than telling us that he felt conflicted, O'Brien anthropomorphizes his internal struggle in order to show us how he feels. His guilt yells at him from the American side, while his cowardice and morality encourage him from the Canadian side. Whether or not he ever actually attempted to row across the Rainy River doesn't matter. We know exactly what emotions O'Brien was experiencing upon being drafted through the way he tells this story.

"The Man I Killed"

    In this story, O'Brien is haunted by the imagined version of a man he kills during an ambush. There's an emphasis on guilt, perhaps even O'Brien himself projecting onto this enemy soldier. The man he killed may have been a good person; he could have had a family; he could have not wanted to hurt him; he could have been afraid and hiding; he could have been forced to fight against his will; and yet O'Brien killed him in cold blood. Through his imagining, he paints himself as the villain and is tortured by his guilt about his actions. 

    "The Man I Killed" ties perfectly in with the idea of "true stories that never happened": because he doesn't know what the truth of this man's life was, for all he knows these imagined possibility could have been real. "Good Form", another chapter later in the book, confirms that he made the whole story up. However, he "wanted the reader to feel the same way [he] did during the war", so he crafted a story that summarized all of his guilt and second-guessing of his actions into one singular event. This is exactly what this genre attempts to achieve.

"Speaking of Courage" (TW: mentions of suicide)

    "Speaking of Courage" is my favorite story from "The Things They Carried". It's also my least favorite. It stayed with me long after I had finished reading it, and is in my opinion the most striking and devastating story in the entire book. 

    Rather than O'Brien, this story follows Norman Bowker, one of his fellow infantrymen. Set after the war, it chronicles Bowker's attempts to return home and reenter society. However, this is easier said than done; his girlfriend has married someone else, and all of his friends were killed in combat. People don't want to talk about the war, and soldiers are given the cold shoulder upon returning. After all, the United State's efforts in Vietnam were a failure. Bowker drives in circles around the town, imagining conversations he might have about his experiences. He tells his father about the medals he won, as well as the ones he didn't win. He repeats the phrase "speaking of courage" at the beginning of all of his "conversations", as if he's joining into them, rather than starting them. While he doesn't have anyone to tell these stories to, imagining what he might say if he had an audience serves as his catharsis as he drives. 

    His circles around the city, watching from the windshield, highlight the isolation Bowker feels from the rest of society. He feels stuck, driving around and around on the same path repeating the same stories while everyone else moves on without him. "Notes", the aside that follows "Speaking of Courage", elaborates that Bowker himself asked O'Brien to write the story for him, then suddenly took his own life. He was never able to rejoin society after the war. This emotional gut-punch made the story linger in my mind several years after I first read it.

 

The Little Prince

 

"The Little Prince", Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "The Little Prince" has a much lighter subject matter than "The Things They Carried". It chronicles the travels of the titular little prince as he makes his way through the stars and planets before landing on Earth, serving as a metaphor for growing up as well as a social and philosophical commentary. The story is told second-hand by the aviator, who the prince meets in the desert. While the meaning of the story is up for interpretation, it's clear to me that both the prince and the aviator are reflections of the author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. 

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, via Britannica

    An aviator himself, his plane once crash landed in the middle of the desert during a flight, where he experienced extreme dehydration and hallucinations before being led to water by a local nomad. Similarly, the aviator in his story crash lands in the desert before meeting the prince, who keeps his spirits up with his stories and ultimately leads him to water. As the narrator of the story, the aviator serves as a stand-in for Saint-Exupery as the author. 

    The prince is a less direct reflection of the author. Saint-Exupery wrote "The Little Prince" in a rented mansion in Long Island, which he felt confined in, sneaking off into the city much like the prince leaving his asteroid home to explore the cosmos. The prince's rose is likely based off of the disposition of Consuelo, Saint-Exupery's wife. In "Letters to a Stranger", Saint-Exupery even signs his letters with an image of the prince, equating himself to the character. 

    I believe the prince represents his childhood self, or perhaps his memories of this self. The prince has a child-like sense of wonder and confusion about the world, constantly confronted with the strangeness of adults. He contrasts the aviator's pessimism and resignation towards the state of the world. They serve as two halves of the same whole: Saint-Exupery himself.

    Like O'Brien, Saint-Exupery treats his subject with the same seriousness and conventions as non-fiction. The aviator recounts the story as a memoir. He even acknowledges that he could have told the tale as a fairy tale, but he "didn't want [his] book to be taken lightly. Telling these memories is so painful to [him]". All of the illustrations in the book, done by Saint-Exupery himself, are attributed to the aviator, The prince even comments on them as he creates them, telling him the ears on the fox are too long and "look more like horns". Saint-Exupery blurs the lines between reality and fiction by doing this, tying himself to the character of the aviator as he recounts the story of the prince. 

    The prince was not created for this story specifically. The opposite is true, actually. Saint-Exupery had been drawing the prince on his letters and in the margins of his diary long before the book's creation, and was encouraged to use the character for a children's book. Saint-Exupery, who at the point had only written novels, held children's books in the highest regards. "We know all too well that fairy tales are the only truth in life," he wrote in "Letters to a Stranger". This sentiment is reflected in the moral lessons that he weaves within "The Little Prince", as well as his insistence within the story that the events described are true.

    While a fantasy story about a cosmos-traveling prince, "The Little Prince" holds just as much truth in its narrative as the stories told in "The Things They Carried".

 

So what?

 

    These stories hold a powerful lesson behind them for writers: as Tim O'Brien states, "the truth of a story doesn't matter so much as what the story is trying to say". Nonfiction is often held to a higher regard than fiction, its value held in its honesty and dedication to the truth. I would argue that fiction can be just as, if not more, true than an entirely factual nonfiction account. I've read many stories about the Vietnam War; none have impacted me as profoundly or stuck with me as long as "The Things They Carried" has. "The Little Prince" is a deeper look at the life and beliefs of Antoine de Saint-Exupery than the history recounted in the bonus content of my 75th anniversary edition of the book. Through fiction, we can create stories that are truer than life itself.

Jay's review of Maus and The Gray Painter

 

Maus Review

Basic Information

• Full release - 1991

• Author - Art Spegelman

• Genre - Historic Graphic Novel

Important Background and Disclaimers

        Maus in its initial release was well received by the general public and many art critics of

German and Jewish communities. (who I’m referring to because I had to read their

essays on the book for my contemporary literature class, and to distinguish the book as

well received by critiques and international audiences alike.) They celebrated Maus as an instant modern classic.

    

    Unfortunately, you’re more likely to have heard about it in recent times from the attempts to get it banned in some school districts by the organization known as Moms for Liberty, a conservative anti-intellectualism/education political group. I reached out to Linn county’s own chapter of this group for more specifics on why the group was attempting to ban the book, however received no reply; even from their website which advertised the email address of the president who ignored me. The closest thing I could find was statements in interviews of the Athens county school board in Tennessee, who did ban Maus in conjunction with other books.

    Maus New York Times Article see this article for more information.

    In those articles it was stated that Maus was banned for containing “pornographic content” which is a lame way of saying “accurately depicting the conditions of Auschwitz.” Although in fairness another comic within Maus did depict a dead naked woman in the corner of one panel, so it was half right only for necrophiliacs so .25 points for out of touch school administrators.

My Opinions

*SPOILERS*

    A brief summary of the plot of Maus goes as follows. Art Speigleman interviews his father Vladek Speigleman on his experiences during the ww2 period. Throughout Art comment's on the nature and effect of his work/the message there in. Meanwhile Vladek's health slowly deteriorates until his death by the end of the book. The book and Vladek's story culminates with the historical story concluding with Vladek reuniting with Art's mother and the modern story ends with Vladek's final recorded conversation with Art.

    Compared to the average Holocaust story, Maus has more to say about society then the common retellings. The general plot of the book follows the author himself interviewing and writing his father’s story as a Holocaust survivor, however a good 50% of the story is about the author’s experience as a child of said Holocaust survivor. Even when the father is retelling events, Art frequently cuts in talking about their shared experiences after the fact. The story itself is formatted more like a conversation than a historical piece. This story is almost as much about Art Speigleman’s experience and relationship with his father as their shared past through being part of the Jewish community. 

    

    That’s something I’ve found atypical of not just Holocaust stories but stories about oppressive societies and events since then. Art demonstrates the ways being a child of a Holocaust survivor impacts him, his family, and even his recently converted Jewish wife (who had no prior connection to the history of the community) in a way I believe I’ve seen no other media do regarding historical events.

  

    It’s something that should be championed and done more in historical stories regarding not just the Holocaust but things like Jim Crow, the Holodomor, colonialism, and more. This I believe will give people a greater understanding of the importance of history and insight that goes beyond simply learning from the past.

     Holodomor Wiki NOTE: Wikipedia is an inconsistent source please do not take this as your definitive education on the subject rather use it as a jumping off point for further research. Additionally the Holodomor is a heavily politized event with lots of conflicting information please research responsibly. 

    Jim Crow Wiki NOTE: see prior note

    More Jim Crow Info NOTE: expands on similar topics.

    For more info on colonialism... look it up on your own this varied so wildly from continent to continent that I can't provide you with a single conducive source on the topic.

Gray Painter Review

Basic Information

• Release - July 2022

• Author - William Loman

• Genre - Interactive Fiction

• Content Warning - descriptions of sex and murder

Interactive Fiction? Content Warning.

    

    The Gray Painter is a "Game" (more on that designation later) published by the company Hosted Games, which is subsidiary to an LLC known as Choice of games LLC. They publish a genre of fiction writing which I like to call interactive fiction. Think of those choose your own adventure books you might have seen as a kid and imagine them expanded to an absurd degree by the power of technology.

    

    As such the company has elected to label these games, but the only game play involved is the act of making choices. Most of your time spent playing these games will be devoted to reading the same way you would a regular novel except from the 2nd perspective (Meaning the narrator details the actions and emotions of your perspective or the characters you're meant to absorb yourself in, "You arrived in the dungeon." - 2nd perspective sentence) 

    

    These games typically allow you to create, name and choose the

personality of the main character of the story. Many of such allow for LGBTQ+ friendly

options enabling you to properly represent yourself or your desired character. Often

these choices have story consequences such as offering you different romantic options including none for those of you in the ace in the hole persuasion.

  

    Additionally it can determine your character’s success at certain actions, directing the player towards attentive reading/consistent choices for your character’s development. These customization options can also extend to other characters; it's a common trope to allow the player to pick the gender identity of romantic options to suit your preferences. 

    

    The Gray Painter takes a somewhat different approach, still enabling you to choose your character’s gender and sexual orientation but not much else. (You also start with a partner named Harper who can be designated as a man or woman. There are aro ace options for how to describe the relationship if that’s important to you) Your character starts with the name Ash and has a pretty set personality which the only alterations to you can make are confidence from a 1 - 100 scale. Choices made in the story enable you to learn new things about the other characters and garner more confidence for Ash.

Story of The Gray Painter

    Ash (you) and their partner Harper join a nude painting group, meaning each member of the group takes a their turn standing nude before the group to be painted for practice of each member's respective craft. Ash as a chronically low self esteem person has opportunities throughout the story to raise their confidence in order to become self assured enough to pose before the group in spite of their insecurities. Part of the story is contending with the relationship issues between yourself and your partner; Harper is much more of a free spirit than Ash and thus passes a lot of undue stress onto them, including, if the player chooses, to suspect Harper of cheating. During that time you meet and make friends (or not if you decide you don't like them) with each member of the group. 

   

   The most notable members of the group include Gabrielle, the leader of the group, and Blaine, an older man who you eventually discover cheated on his wife with another member of the group.  Eventually all this drama causes rifts in the group to form which Gabrielle attempts to resolve by throwing a party. Unfortunately this only proves a temporary solution as after the party Blaine leaves the group due to his deteriorating marriage likely as a result of a possible additional fling with Gabrielle. One by one each member of the original group leaves due to some interpersonal drama or conflict with IT until the group disbands entirely. During this decline of the group IT commissions you for a portrait, explaining they had one done two years before by another anonymous artist. After you complete the painting the game switches to Harper's perspective detailing how they joined the nude painting group before you by meeting IT. Harper was the anonymous artist from two years before and depending on the player's choices can sleep with IT following their break up with Ash. 

    Harper can also speak to Ash and Blaine's wife to get an update on how they're doing after the events of the game which varies based on player choice. Harper finds out however that Blaine has basically disappeared off the face of the earth, and all the other members of the painting group refuse to speak to either Harper or Ash after the end of the game... but why? what happened to Blaine? and what is IT

IT

 I guess you'll just have to read to find out...

My Opinions

     As an avid reader of the interactive fiction genre I've had many experiences with these types of stories but The Gray Painter stuck with me in a way many other stories haven't. Even in my initial play through where I didn't suspect anything or foresee the plot twist in the slightest I came to admire the rich character's and interpersonal drama. The reader is greeted with a charming bitter sweet story about a single person's journey to self assurance, and then waffle stomped by a Lovecraftian twist on the second play through. 

Which Jane Austen Protagonists Would Make Good Writing Center Consultants?

 Portrait of Jane Austen

In her lifetime, Jane Austen wrote six complete novels that scholars and students still study and read to this day. In Fall 2023, I was one of the students that read all six books as part of Coe College's Gender and Literature: Jane Austen class with Melissa Sodeman. Since Jane Austen herself was an avid reader and writer, she would give her characters personality traits based on the books the characters read themselves. 

As a writing consultant who took this Jane Austen class, it made me wonder which Jane Austen protagonists would be good or bad writing consultants. Based on the character's own beliefs about books, the genre of books they read, and their personality traits, I have decided to rank each protagonist on how good they would be as a writing consultant. The rankings will go from least qualified to most qualified.

Ranking:

7. Catherine Morland

Catherine Morland is from Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey. The book is a satirical take on gothic literature, which was very popular during Jane Austen's time. In Northanger Abbey, Catherine is the unlikely protagonist to a gothic mystery that is unfolding at Northanger Abbey, which is an old, grand castle. Catherine herself is honest, honorable, clumsy, curious, and has an overactive imagination.

 Her character archetype is called the "quixotic," named after the character Don Quixote, who was a middle-aged man with an overactive imagination who believed he could become a knight. Catherine's active imagination, and her love for reading gothic literature, causes her to believe she is in a situation like her gothic novels.

Considering these factors, Catherine would be a very good writing center consultant. She would be very nice to writers, but her honesty and "quixote" personality might scare off writers from returning. Furthermore, she easily gets swept away in her own imagination and is likely to jump to conclusions about how things are, which may not be good when in a conference. 

6. Fanny Price

Fanny Price is from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Fanny is the unhealthiest Jane Austen protagonists, which is used to demonstrate how dependent and meek she is. She is also demure, modest, quiet, an outsider, a rule follower, and a just person. 

Fanny has strong moral convictions and never challenges the rules of an authority figure. In fact, she wholly supports the patriarchal authority structure of her time and is fearful of behaving wrongly in the eyes of her uncle, who is her father-figure. She has a close relationship with her cousin, Edmund, who shares a common interest in Fanny's love of reading Shakespearean plays, poems, and written essays about social life in England and France.  

Although Fanny is well-versed in different types of literature, her shy and quiet personality would be a great obstacle in giving conferences in the writing center. Her tendency to follow rules would make her a great worker, but she would be too scared to be assertive in conferences, which would be detrimental to her nerves and to the writer's paper. In short, her love of literature would be great for working with writers, but the job would not fit her personality.

5. Marianne Dashwood

Marianne Dashwood is one of the deuteragonists of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. I imagine she is the woman on the right in the book cover. Marianne is the one with "sensibility" between her and her sister. 

Sensibility had a different connotation in eighteenth-century Britian compared to its meaning right now. In Jane Austen's life, sensibility meant a person with great emotional awareness and sensitivity to the world and other people's emotions. 

As a result, Marianne is open with her thoughts and emotions, dramatic, expressive, authentic, opinionated, passionate, and does not care what other people think of her. The few books that she reads consists of romance novels, which contributes to her romantic outlook on life.

Marianne's sensibility of other's emotions would allow her to give writers blunt honesty on their work while ensuring their feelings are not hurt. Her sensibility would also grant her an openness and friendliness to any writers who come in and to her fellow coworkers. However, her limited knowledge on literature would make it difficult to help writers with technical and grammatical aspects of their work. As such, she would be a comforting presence in the writing center, but she would not be very effective at helping writers with their work.

4. Emma Woodhouse

Emma Woodhouse is from Jane Austen's Emma. Emma is handsome, clever, rich, spoiled, charming, nosey, a loner, a matchmaker, and a huge gossiper. She is willing to be sociable with others because of her love of gossip and matchmaking. She also has the charm and charisma to influence others to tell her secrets and their honest feelings. 

Despite Emma's social capabilities allowing her to be great in conversations, her knowledge on literature is lacking, which is disadvantageous for a writing center consultant. She has little literature knowledge because she specifically detests reading; however, she loves untangling word puzzles and riddles as a way to sharpen her mind and improve her problem-solving skills.

Due to her love of gossip and word puzzles, I believe she would be a great conversationalist with writers who come to the writing center looking for brainstorming ideas. She would be able to persuade writers to be comfortable enough to reveal their honest thoughts and opinions on their work. However, her detest for reading and her love for matchmaking may make it hard for her to read essays and instead get involved in the writer's love life.

3. Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet is from Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. Lizzy is witty, observant, strong-willed, unfiltered, judgmental, prejudiced, knowledgeable, and assertive. She is willing to stand up for herself to authority figures for her own beliefs, even to her own parents and people who have a higher social and economic standing in society. 

She is an avid reader. It is one of her preferable hobbies to do compared to playing cards, playing the piano, or singing. She reads modern literature of her time, along with academic books about English society. 

Lizzy's love of reading means she is well-versed in different types of literature, which would make her very knowledgeable on grammar and sentence structure in essays. Furthermore, she is observant and assertive, which means she would not be afraid to inform a writer on both the good and bad qualities of their writing. 

On the other hand, she can be judgmental and prejudiced on her first impressions of a person. If a writer comes into the writing center and is rude to her or anyone else, it will take a while for her to change her opinion on the writer's character. This can put a damp on her having any returning writers come back to her after the first conference. 

2. Elinor Dashwood

Elinor Dashwood is the other deuteragonist of Sense and Sensibility, she is the woman on the left of the book cover. Elinor is the sister who has "sense," which means she is very logical and methodically in her reasonings. 

She is intellectual, reserved, socially aware, honorable, responsible, and knows how to keep her feelings in check to remain impersonal in conversations and work. She is a great listener and many characters from the book come to her for her opinion. However, Elinor is not a reader; she prefers to draw instead. 

Therefore, she would be reliable in giving great conferences with her natural ability to be a good listener and persuasive speaker, however, her lack of knowledge on literature would make it hard for to help with grammatical writing. Although Marianne and Elinor both lack vast knowledge of literature, Elinor is ranked high on this list because she is a great conversationalist. 

Marianne is ranked lower than Elinor for the same limited knowledge because Marianne is very opinionated in her beliefs, which could cause her to give wrong advice to a writer. Elinor would be more willing to listen to a writer so she can give the best advice that she can give. 

1. Anne Elliot

Anne Elliot is from Jane Austen's Persuasion, one of the last novels she published. Out of all the Jane Austen protagonists, Anne is the oldest and most mature woman at the age of twenty-seven while the other protagonists are in their late teens and early twenties. Anne is independent, sensitive to others' feelings, intelligent, self-confident, loyal, and a person who highly values her friends' opinions to the point she can be persuaded to change her mind. 

Her matureness grants her wisdom to see the benefit of listening to others and coming to her own conclusions. She is also an avid reader of poems, mythologies, and moralist essays about English society. She has a wide array of knowledge on different types of literature.

Thus, Anne's intelligence, matureness, and knowledge on poems, mythologies, and essays grants her the ability to be an excellent conversationalist and informed consultant on writing concepts. She has the grace to be gentle with a writer's feelings while also being confident in voicing constructive criticisms to the writer on their work. 

Furthermore, she is a great listener who values others' thoughts and opinions, which means she would listen to the writer's concerns and questions and respond to them. Additionally, her extensive literature education would grant her the ability to help writers with more than just essays, she would be able to help writers with their own written narratives and poems. As a result, this makes her the best possible writing consultant out of all the Jane Austen protagonists.