An Anatomy of Mortification

Elizabeth arrives at the Netherfield ball in Pride and Prejudice with a plan: dance with Mr. Wickham and let him fall in love with her by the last set. He doesn't come. Sadie Stein spends the whole episode inside one chapter, because Elizabeth cannot get out of it either: her mother shouting about weddings within Darcy's hearing, Mary refusing to leave the piano, Mr. Collins introducing himself where nobody asked. Stein reads the evening as an exam the family doesn't know it is sitting, with Jane's whole future entered on the score sheet. If you have ever sat at a table silently willing a relative to stop talking, this chapter already knows you.