'Becoming Jane' Austen hews closely to truth -- as far as it's known

Q. In the film, Jane is friendly with a deaf and dumb man from the village. Who was he?


A. Though it’s not clearly stated, that was George, Jane’s older brother. His situation illustrates the rather harsh family customs of Austen’s era.


Jane’s mother followed the common practice among the gentry of sending away one’s infants to be cared for by a local village family. All the Austen children lived with foster families until they were deemed to have “reached the age of reason” and could be expected to behave properly, at which point they were brought home.


George, however, didn’t develop normally, and thus never came home. Though his family sent money for his upkeep all his life, he never lived with them. Austen scholars guess that he was deaf and dumb, since Jane alluded in her letters to knowing sign language.

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