The human mind is a very intricate when deciphering the meaning of life. This was stated by Mr. David Foster Wallace in "Good old Neon" when he stated words only sketch outline a little tiny part(of the Mind) at any given instant. Then there are writers who oppose i.e. Michel Montainge, who stated that humans can not attain certainty. His essays were an example of him expressing his feelings that humans can not attain certainty because they may feel obliged to feel certain in their ways, when in actuality they are not. Then Jane Austen comes along and gives a story of young women attaining certainty through new found relationships that eventually lead to marriage.
Montainge would be a contradiction to Foster because Montainge believes that the mind is capable of keeping up to the level of having words do more than just outline a small portion of a certain matter. This was evident in his opposition to conquering the new world. The detail he puts into describing the feelings of natives being conquered was him attempting to do more than just "sketch" an idea to stop the conquest, but rather relay their suffering to people unaware of these issues. His views on new world conquest were just a small portion of the rest of his essays, that took 2 decades to be completely finished, and it shows that he tried to be incredibly detailed when it came to his views on issues.
When Jane Austen comes along, nearly 300 years later, she is also focusing on a very prominent topic of parents trying to set up their off-spring with someone of benefit. Austen was able to show that there was love even though there was somewhat of a set up with Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet. Austen was very effective in showing that there could be true love involved when a daughter is encouraged to meet a certain gentleman. This story, while only focusing on one topic, shows that as time goes by people start to simplify their word choice while being convincing.
Maybe this is the reason David Foster Wallace stated what he stated because he has observed that over time, wording needs to be reduced to be more appealing to readers. And although Michel Montainge was intricate in his works we would rather read Jane Austen because we feel as if she has made a compelling novel while being quicker to the point. to be fair to Foster, as time has passed the human population has made the world much more simplified, so he implies that we have regressed in terms of articulating with our words since the days of Michel Montainge.
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