ter was omitted completely. The main characters in Sense and Sensibility is the Dashwood family consisting of the Henry Dashwood, Mrs. Dashwood, and the three daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret. The half brother, John Dashwood is present throughout the book with his wife, Fanny and her brother, Edward Ferrars. Once the Dashwood's move to Barton Park, the cousin of Mrs. Dashwood, John Middleton and his group of friends and family are introduced which included Mrs. Jennings, Colonel Brandon, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer. As the story developed, John Willoughby and Lucy Steele were introduced.
             Henry Dashwood, the father, dies at the beginning of the novel, leaving his wife and daughters little money and his son his estate. Not much is told of his character except that he wanted to ensure that his wife and daughters were well provided for.
             Mrs. Dashwood has a romantic temperament and is very close to her daughters. She hopes to see them all married off well, yet is not the voice of reason that perhaps she should be. The movie presented Mrs. Dashwood to be a woman very driven by emotion, without much sense about her. Elinor, Mrs. Dashwood's eldest daughter, is shown as a constant support and in most all cases makes up for her mothers lack of strength in all areas of life (i.e. balancing the books for the household, issues with Marianne courting Willoughby). In the book, Austen made her out to be a much stronger person. She found the place for her family to live with her cousin at Barton. She was making plans for improvements to the cottage. Mrs. Dashwood balanced the household books.
             Elinor, at 19, is the oldest of the Dashwood girls. She has a great deal of common sense and is best out of her family at dealing with people. She is different from her sister, Marianne, in that she tempers her emotions and judgments with good sense and discretion. She prefers to keep her troubles secret, as she is always trying to make sure t...