In Jane Austen's novel, Sense and Sensibility, the personalities of the Dashwood sisters vary enormously. It is explained that Marianne Dashwood has no restraint in her emotions. Marianne is impulsive, passionate and lets her heart take control. It represents sensitivity in the novel. In opposition, Elinor Dashwood, the eldest, knows how to control her feelings. Elinor represents the meaning of the novel. Elinor's practical mind is the voice of common sense and helps all members of the Dashwood family navigate everyday life. Elinor's self-control is motivated by her family's near poverty, her sense of responsibility to care for her sisters and mother, and her fear of vulnerability. At the beginning of the novel, the Dashwood family experiences the loss of a father and a husband. Emotional pain is inflicted on each of the girls, but Elinor is still able to engage. In this difficult moment he can consult with his stepbrother, welcome his sister-in-law upon her arrival and treat her with due attention. Aware of civilization's expectations of fairness, Elinor pushes her mother to do the same. After losing their father, the family of young women is reduced to near poverty due to the selfishness and greed of their sister-in-law Fanny. Their father's estate is bequeathed to his half-brother, John Dashwood, and they are left with nowhere to go. Fanny easily convinces John not to give the girls the monetary assistance her father requested. Trying to convince her husband, Johnny, not to give anything to her sisters, Fanny thoughtlessly says that China is, "Far too beautiful, in my opinion, for any place they can afford to love... Your father thought only of them ". …and you owe no particular thanks…… middle of the paper…… for Edward, she remains cautious and tells her sister, “I am not at all sure of his regard for me” (Austen 17 ). Elinor sometimes doubts the possibility of their engagement. Although she is hurt by it, she keeps it hidden. When she finds out that Lucy is secretly engaged to Edward, she doesn't make a scene like Marianne would. Vulnerability is socially despised. A single woman is seen as vulnerable and in need of discretion. Women's vulnerability to sexual danger is exemplified in both Eliza's stories. A certain Eliza is forced to marry and then falls into the hands of a seducer and her daughter, Eliza, is also seduced and abandoned, but by Willoughby. Elinor worries about her sister when Colonel Brandon compares Eliza's promiscuous life to that of Marianne. Elinor can't help but think about what might happen to her if she doesn't get married and doesn't have the financial support she needs.