Stance: Studies on the Family Winter 2015

88 • Stance: Studies on the Family The lens of duality and its connection to Mormonism derives from Anne’s commentary on persuasion in the text itself. Anne refers to the dual nature of persuasion, describing her original encounter with persuasion as “exerted on the side of safety, not of risk. . . . It was to duty” (173).

Anne’s comments lead to an analysis of the duty and risk involved in marriage in nineteenth-century England and contemporary Mormonism.

Such a comparison is apt, given the connection between the two cultures noted by scholars such as Dorice Elliot, who said, “By the time the [LDS Church] reached the middle of the twentieth century . . . the Victorian family . . . was firmly established in both American and Mormon cultures” (23). Bree’s analysis of the importance of conversation, in conjunction with Walzer’s arguments about persuasion and further analysis, gives insight into the conundrum of duty and risk in marriage faced by Anne and by modern Mormons. Is Anne’s duty to marriage higher than the risk of marrying below her social class? Is a Mormon’s duty to marriage higher than the risk of marrying outside the faith? The duality of duty and risk is shown not only in the outcome of the persuasion, but also throughout the process, highlighting the relationship and obligations of the individuals and the role each individual plays in the act of persuading.

The question arises if persuasion is inherently good or evil, or if the morality lies with the purpose of the persuasion—if the persuasion moves the persuaded toward duty or toward risk. Where is our duty and what role does risk play in fulfilling it? Anne’s commitment to duty, in her initial yielding to Lady Russell and subsequent commitment to that choice, while acknowledging the pain it caused her, illustrates the complexity of understanding what the text suggests about duty and risk.

Persuasion is ambiguous about which half of persuasion’s dual nature is better, suggesting the two conflicting sides must reconcile. Anne’s story lays an interesting framework for an analysis of marriage culture within Mormonism. The values are strikingly similar for nineteenth-century England and modern-day Mormonism, allowing Anne’s experience to provide insight into a possible solution for the difficult duality presented by interfaith marriage. Anne’s experience suggests that there is value in being dutiful, but that happiness comes with compromise and the reconciliation of duties and risks that accompany persuading and being persuaded.