Mansfield Park Chapter 48 Summary

  • It's now time for the narrator to wrap things up. Here's the character rundown.
  • Fanny is happy to be back home and helps her family deal with everything.
  • Edmund takes time to get over Mary.
  • Sir Thomas also takes along time to get over his parenting failure.
  • Julia's marriage actually turned out OK and Julia came home to apologize for eloping.
  • Why did she elope? Well, after she heard what Maria had done she panicked at the thought of going home and being grounded for life by an overprotective and un-fun dad. So she accepted Yates's proposal instead and made a run for it.
  • Sir Thomas became a more affectionate father in the future.
  • Tom recovered and became a dutiful and better-behaved son.
  • Sir Thomas decided that Mrs. Norris was pretty awful and needed to go away.
  • Maria hoped to marry Henry but, after living together for a while, the two grew to hate each other and eventually broke up.
  • Mr. Rushworth got a speedy divorce from Maria.
  • Maria tried to come home but her dad wouldn't take her.
  • So she ended up having to go live elsewhere with Mrs. Norris and the two drove each other crazy.
  • We learn why Henry ended up in the bad situation he did: the narrator chalks it up to vanity and pride. He needed Maria to still like him, to be admired and adored, and got in over his head with her.
  • The Grants moved away from Mansfield Park and Mary continues to live with Mrs. Grant. She took a long time to get over Edmund and to find someone else.
  • Edmund eventually fell in love with Fanny, though the narrator won't specify a time frame. Readers can decide for themselves what the "proper" amount of time is for Edmund to get over Mary.
  • Edmund and Fanny marry and live quite happy. Susan takes Fanny's place at Mansfield Park
  • Eventually Edmund and Fanny move to the Parsonage where the Grants and the Crawfords once lived.