This was written by Martin Mudrick , who saw Austen as lonely , defensive , and critical of her society . He carefully described the connection between Austen 's attitude towards the literature of her time and how she used irony to show the difference of how society was , and how she thought it could be . Mudrick portrayed Austen as isolated , defensive , and critical of her society , and described in detail the relationship he saw between Austen 's attitude toward contemporary literature and her use of irony as a technique to contrast the realities of her society with what she felt they should be .