Which Jane Austen novel opens with the line 'Is it a truth universally acknowledged'?

• A. Pride and Prejudice
• B. Sense and Sensibility
• C. Emma
• D. Mansfield Park

Answer: (A)

That opening line signals Austen’s witty take on marriage and social expectations. Pride and Prejudice begins with a ironic statement about a “truth universally acknowledged”—the idea that wealth and good fortune drive people to marriage—and the narrator uses that irony to set up the novel’s exploration of pride, prejudice, and social norms.

Sense and Sensibility starts by detailing the Dashwood family’s fortunes and their sudden change in circumstances, Emma opens with a portrait of Emma Woodhouse’s comfortable, self-assured life, and Mansfield Park begins by situating the Bertram family and their estate. These openings introduce different situations and concerns, not the satirical take on marriage and fortune that characterizes Pride and Prejudice.

So the line belongs to Pride and Prejudice.