3 - Emma

Date completed: August 13, 2009

Places I read it: my perfect bench at BCCC, my room in Doylestown, all over the house in Doylestown, in the car on the way to Philadelphia

Jane Austen wrote Emma knowing that no one would really like her; however, I actually do like the character of Emma. She is sometimes very blind and naive, but she is always willing to self-reflect and is always ashamed by the more horrible things she does. I enjoyed watching her grow into a more experienced individual.

Her union with Mr. Knightley is one of those Austen couples that a lot of people seem to object to. I thought it was much more plausible than Marianne's marriage to Colonel Brandon in S&S though-- despite Emma's constant protestations that she wouldn't ever marry, I knew from the beginning that she'd end up with Knightley, merely because he is literally the only person in the novel who ever sees anything imperfect about Emma. He alone is willing to criticize her behaviors (to her face) and to see some sort of fault in her. Well, I mean, Mrs. Elton is often critical too, but her motivation is spite. Mr. Knightley makes Emma a better person, and I really grew to love him toward the end of the book.

I thought Emma's situation in life was really interesting, especially for an Austen novel. Normally, Austen writes about poor girls, often with siblings, who are desperately trying to get married. Emma doesn't need that; she's financially secure by herself. She makes declarations all throughout the novel about being unwilling to marry, and even believes that love cannot touch her. So this novel presented a really unique plot-- instead of the women whose main purpose is to marry, Emma is quite independent already.

The characters of Mrs. Elton and Harriet Smith really bothered me. Mrs. Elton is obviously written to be really annoying, and Harriet is only annoying because Emma made her that way. But she (H) is so impressionable! She denies a proposal from the man she loves merely because Emma believes him to be inferior! Yeah, she wants to impress Emma. Yeah, she's really happy that Emma is paying attention to her. I know she's supposed to be really simple and moldable. It just bugged me.

So this novel didn't really pull me in until I was about halfway through...it dragged at times...but the end redeemed itself for me, I guess. Infallible Emma becomes more human, succumbs to love, is more self-aware, and yet remains caring and happy. It all ends too perfectly, of course (what was with the chicken robberies on the last page?! I find it hard to believe that Mr. Woodhouse would suddenly change his mind about the marriage just because of that! I don't care how ornery and silly he is!), but what else is there to expect from an Austen novel? I just really liked her character constructions in this one. So, so good.