A structuralist reading of Austen's sense and sensibility The fundamental structural dynamic underlying the entire manifested universe, much less literature, is duality; therefore, Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility can be easily analyzed from the structuralist perspective. Each of us is a complex blend of polar opposites, the most primary of which is the division between right brain and left brain, or, more commonly, “heart and mind.” ." Austen's technique in this novel is to eliminate the corpus callosum entirely, thus juxtaposing the two halves in a "binary opposition", a split between the heart that beats and exults and the mind that ascertains and evaluates. Marianne is , of course, the heart of the novel, Elinor the mind. Furthermore, the remaining characters also fall into one of these two categories. I have arranged the most important figures of the novel in this way: SENSE SENSIBILITY Elinor Marianne Edward Mrs. Dashwood Lucy &nbs..... . middle of paper ......the novel can stand alone from its constituent elements, to be used and reused again and again by simply replacing different characters, different circumstances this novel, the exact same dualism of heart and mind is explored (and in a much more interesting way, in my opinion) in the experiences of the two title characters. In closing, it must be stated that there are certainly other structural dichotomies within the novel. , contrasts of high and low that bisect the lateral distinctions I focused on. This involves the changes in social stations experienced by various characters such as Elinor, Marianne, Lucy and Edward. These are, however, secondary to the main theme, the seemingly impassable and yawning chasm that separates those with common sense from those possessed of mere banal sensibilities.