I blogged previously about how Elizabeth and Anthony in FBOFW do not make a convincing couple.
It occurred to me today that what Lynn Johnston is probably trying to do is set up a Jane Austen-style marriage-as-happy-ending sort of thing.
Now Anthony actually would make a good Jane Austen happy ending bridegroom. He's kind and decent, fulfills his responsibilities, gets along well with Elizabeth. He's make a perfect match for an Austen heroine. But the problem is that Jane Austen's heroines need to get married. Austen is very careful to set up situations with entails etc. that leave her heroines in a situation where marriage is the only thing that will allow them to continue living in the manner to which they were accustomed. So for them, a kind decent man who fulfills his responsibilities and wants to marry them is a total score. It's like if any of us thought ourselves unemployable, then suddenly landed a job for life that pays enough and has decent benefits and involves work we don't entirely mind doing.
But FBOFW is set in Canada in the 21st century. Elizabeth Patterson has no special need to be married in and of itself; marriage only makes sense for her if she wants to spend her life with a particular person. It's like if you were already independently wealthy and didn't need to work, you wouldn't take a job just because the compensation was decent and you didn't entirely mind the work. It would need to be valuable or fascinating or mad crazy fun work that you actively enjoy.
Elizabeth Bennet needed to get married so the fact that a man was kind, decent and responsible was reason enough to marry him. Elizabeth Patterson does not need to get married, so we need to be shown, on-"camera", why this is the right choice for them.
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