Sense and sensibility was the first of Jane Austen novels who was published, in 1811. It analyses with greater profundity the contrast between a woman who submit herself to the guidance of common sense and one who follows impulse (*). This contrast grows between the two women as the novel goes by, showing two different conceptions of life.

    These two women are sisters, the oldest one is nineteen and its called Elinor, she is the one who controls her feelings throughout with more decorum and a deeper sense of the privacy of personal emotion.
The other one is sixteen and is called Marianne she is a believer in sensibility, opposed to her sister Elinor, she is volatile and she can not wait to say what she really think, even when it is not correctly to be said by a young and well educated Lady.

    Elinor and Marianne are introduced to the reader by the first chapter:

Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual.
Possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which
qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her
mother [...]. She had an excellent heart;- her
disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she
knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet
to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be
taught.

Marianne's abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to
Elinor's. She was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her
sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous,
amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent. The
resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great.

    Maranne is introduced as an excellent person, and as we read, we discover a young lady full of life, she seems to enjoy every moment of the day, and appreciate extremely everything she likes:
 

“And how does dear, dear Norland look ?” cried Marianne.
“Dear, dear Norland.” Said Elinor, “probably looks much as it always looks at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with leaves.”
“Oh!” cried Marianne, “with what transporting sensations have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.”
“It is not every one,” said Elinor, “Who has your passion for dead leaves.”
“No; my feelings are not often shared, not often understood.

    This piece of dialog also shows the different point of view from each sister, while Elinor  is realistic Marianne gives more emphasis about her memories about Norland, her first home that they where obligated to leave.

    On the other hand, we can also compare, not only what characters said, but also what characters do; That is how we see a strong Elinor Taking care of her ill sister Marianne, living only to serve her while she had for a long time a silenced pain. We also see how Marianne, who possesses a sensibility in excess of what is demanded or justified by the kind of world she lives in and by the facts of human nature manifested in that world, Miss Austen arranges for life to educate her, gently but firmly.
    Sense and sensibility is not a satire, and Marianne, for all the delightful absurdity of some of her remarks, is neither despised nor chastised, but allowed to work out her salvation through the impact of social reality on her own sensibility. That impact, and what follows from it, is the novel’s main theme.(*)
     Finally, Elinor who waited patiently her true love marry him, it the present that life gives her, but Marianne can not marry the man she was deep in love with, she had no choice but to learn how to love a man who can be her father, a man who she, at the beginning of the novel, depreciate and laugh at.
 

Bibliography:
A critical history of English Literature, David Daiches, Secker & Walburg
A Literery history of England, Albert C.Baugh, (Routledge and Kegan Paul)
The Penguin Short History of English Literature (Stephen Coote)

Images:
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/set/2484/sas95ig1.htm