不吃不理性：從瑪莉安的情傷，看《理性與感性》的拒食、進食，以及餵食

Denying and Dining in Sense and Sensibility: A Food Discourse on Mrs. Jennings’ Healing Feeding

《理性與感性》（Sense and Sensibility）似乎始終聚焦於代表理性的姊姊愛蓮娜（Elinor）與代表感性的妹妹瑪莉安（Marianne），二人成為牽繫敘述主軸的兩股主要力量，而詹寧斯太太（Mrs. Jennings）的詼諧戲謔就穿插在其中。本文從飲食論述的觀點出發，視詹寧斯太太為調和理性與感性的要角，將入世的物質性與關懷，透過飲食，揉合理性與感性二者。壓抑小我的情感，遭受情傷而不透露的姊姊，晚餐全家相聚，默不作聲，強迫自己進食；無視大我的和諧，遭受情傷而昭示天下的妹妹，晚餐全家相聚，哭鬧哀號，當眾表示拒食。吃與不吃，成為尺碼的兩端，丈量入世的深淺，探知理性與感性是否交互影響，逐漸融合？在這樣的影響融合中，詹寧斯太太發揮不可磨滅的重要性，餵食、逗笑，供給溫飽，我們所看到的，不再是個粗鄙的甘草人物，而是關愛的入世引導。

Sense and Sensibility seems to focus on the two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and they in turn seem to guide the development of the major narrative which effervesces from time to time with laughter of Mrs. Jennings or caused by Mrs. Jennings. This thesis, in different perspectives of food discourse, argues otherwise. Elinor, representative of “sense,” acts as a food consumer in this discourse; Marianne, representative of “sensibility,” acts as a food denier in this discourse; Mrs. Jennings, the hinge and the coordinator between “sense and sensibility,” acts as a food provider. Elinor the consumer conceals her feelings of pain and dines at table while suffering quietly; Marianne the denier expresses without reserve her feelings of pain during dinnertime while imposing her gloom on the entire room. Denying and dining seem to be the two ends of a yardstick against which we measure how much sense is mellowed with sensibility and sensibility is mellowed by sense. In this mellowing, we see the indispensable contribution of Mrs. Jennings, who feeds, laughs, and provides, not as a happy fool, but as a caring mother figure.