Of these, Mansfield Park is linked to empire, Britain’s Caribbean Empire. It is considered Austen’s most autobiographical novel and also deals with broad social themes and even touches slavery. By the 18th century, the British were well established in the Caribbean through their sugar plantations and the slave trade. Literary and political critic, Edward Said, devotes an entire section (17 pages) to Mansfield Park in his magnum opus Culture and Imperialsim (1993).
Here are edited selections from his commentary:
- The heroine, Fanny Price, is the poor niece, orphaned and neglected. The Prices seek out the rich Bertrams for advancement and Fanny soon becomes the focus of attention at Mansfield Park.
- What sustains the good life at the Park is Sir Thomas Bertram's sugar plantation in Antigua, a Caribbean island colonised by the British in the 18th century. It was maintained by slave labour. The novel never shows Sir Thomas in Antigua. He is an absentee landlord.
- The wealthy planter class built huge houses and threw famous parties. Is slavery mentioned in the novel? Yes, Sir Thomas was asked about the slave trade but "there was a dead silence", as Fanny Price reminds her cousin.

Jane Austen's relative Eliza was born in India and turned out to be the godchild of none other than Governor General Warren Hastings.  [Ziauddin Sardar, Balti Britain (Granta 2008)]

 Caribbean Empire - the reality
Edward Said quotes from Principles of Political Economy by John Stuart Mill (1806-73), English philosopher and economist:
"Our West Indian colonies are hardly to be looked upon as countries but more properly as outlying agricultural or manufacturing estates... there is little production apart from staple commodities and these are sent to be sold in England. The trade with the West Indies more  resembles the traffic between town and country."

1. From Peter Fryer, Black People in the British Empire (Pluto 1993)
Million of pounds were made from the Caribbean sugar plantations using slave labour. The planters may have earned an aggregate profit of over £150 million, an average of £1 million a year throughout the 18th century. Some of the profits were squandered on luxurious living by the absentee planters who became an aristocracy of great wealth and influence. Antigua had at least 52 of its planter families who lived outside the island for long periods in the years 1730-75. They included 20 London merchants, 12 MPs, titled persons and one Mayor of London. Jamaica was said to have 2000 absentee in 1774. .