This novel moves between the town and the country, just as most people of a certain class did in Austen's time. Austen's very concerned with the social milieu of her characters, and her settings very clearly reflect this concern. Barton is the countryside, and our main characters live in the shadow of the landed gentry (the Middletons at Barton Park). It's notable that Elinor and Marianne are always on the outskirts of the people who move back and forth between London and Devonshire – they themselves aren't well off, and they are dependent upon these wealthier connections to stay in the social loop of middling-to-high society.