Emma: the Turning Point at Box Hill Essay examples

As stated in the book, “I sit on her lap, put my head on her chest and put my arms around her and we start rocking. She holds me tight like Mama used to” (Lester 36). This is being told by Sarah Pierce and just shows the kind of person Emma is. She cares for her young ‘masters’ and acts as a mother figure when their actual mother cannot. Although slaves are frowned upon when having a relationship with white masters, Emma takes it upon herself to love and make sure Frances and Sarah are in good hands. According to the novel, it also asserts, “(She hugs her father tight.) Tell Mama I won’t forget nothing she taught me. Tell her I’ll be alright. And I’ll be strong Papa. I’ll be strong” (Lester 94). This demonstrates the courage and perseverance Emma possesses, even when she is being ripped away from her loving family. When she’s being sold, she keeps her head up and tells herself not to look defeated. Emma is very strong and will not let anything show her (very few) weaknesses. As demonstrated, this protagonist has positive characteristics based on what thirteen years of ups and downs she has gone through. Emma Henry is simply an

Marriage, a broad theme in this book, can be broken down throughout. Emma’s sister has gone off after getting married and left her alone. After her sister’s marriage, Emma proclaimed that she was not destined for love and made herself the town’s unofficial matchmaker. The entire novel is built around relationships and matchmaking, with Emma and Mr. Knightly, Harriet and Robert Martin/ Elton, and Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill.

In eighteenth century which feminist in social status was not popular by that time, author can only through literature to express her thought and discontented about society. Jane Austen’s Emma advocates a concept about the equality of men and women. Also satirizes women would depend on marriage in exchange to make a living or money in that era. By the effect of society bourgeois, Emma has little self-arrogant. She is a middle class that everyone could admire, “Young, pretty, rich and clever”, she has whatever she needs. She disdains to have friends with lower levels. However, she is soon reach satisfaction with matchmaking for her friend. Story characterizes a distorted society images and the superiority of higher class status. It

Comparisons of Emma and Clueless pose critical explorations into the importance of context and its role in shaping social values. Heckerling’s appropriation of Jane Austen’s 19thC Emma, provides contrasting social ideals regarding gender and class which can be accredited as a result of their differing contextual settings. Values surrounding the importance of social hierarchy, gender disparities and education are prevalent themes addressed within each text. Due to shifts in social standards during the 2 centuries separating these texts, there are particular distinctions between the mechanisms underlying these themes. However, a key similarity linking these texts are their critiques on the morality behind the actions of those in privileged

“Emma could not resist. Ah! Ma’am but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me- but you will be limited as to number- only three at once”; Emma insults Miss Bates, who is a dear friend, in order to quench her desire for social credit. When Mr Martin’s proposal arrives for Harriet, Emma shakes her head with disdain. Emma has the highest social status, apart from Knightley, and uses this to diminish those of lower class. Chapone asks us to “Observe her manner to servants and inferiors” and whether she treats “them always with affability”, but we know, Emma does not. Emma thinks Mr Martin is a “very inferior creature” and when Harriet asks for advice Emma says “the letter had much better be all your own” but sneaks in “You need not to be prompted to write the appearance of sorrow for his disappointment”. Harriet refuses Martin, and Emma proclaims that Harriet, if she accepted, would have been “confined to the society of the illiterate and vulgar” and “could not have visited Mrs. Robert Martin” since she deems the lower class as unsophisticated primitives. Emma would have lost her latest amusement and her chance to prove her intelligence. Emma’s subtle manipulations illustrates the absence of inner morality, and is thus, an ill-qualified mentor.

The psychological effect of colorism drew Emma to cover her black identity from the judging eyes of society, instead of solving the original problem which was revealed to Emma at the end of the novel; her incapability to accept her true dark-skinned self. When Emma was in college, she gave up pursuing her education because she was uncomfortable with the environment. She was not able to be friends with the mulattos in the campus, because they all saw her as a black girl. Emma however refused to see herself as a black woman, and decided to remove herself from a situation that made her feel uncomfortable. Despite the disruption in education, Emma’s ambition helped her become a public school teacher which made her part the middle-class. She believed money would help her achieve happiness, and when that did not prove to be true, she decided to look deeper into the situation.

Cher is one of the most popular girls at her school with a father that is a litigation lawyer, a prestigious occupation in one of the most wealthiest cities in the world. Cher has everything a young lady dreamed off: money and a huge wardrobe (Clueless 1:00-1:30). However, both Emma and Cher shares the same situation where both mothers passed away. Emma and Cher's lack of maternal figure resulted from them to think highly of themselves. Emma's arrogance can be seen when she brags about being successful in matching couples. Emma believes that she has control over fate and must play matchmaker in order for couples to discover true love. Austen states that "The real evils indeed of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little well too of herself" (Austen 5). Emma and Cher seemed to have endless power and wealth, in which they acquire the idea that they are the perfect model for everyone in the

Austen further instigates these thoughts into the reader’s minds as she expounds in the chapter about how Mr. Elton fails to inquire more about Harriet, and still goes out to the party without her or a second thought. Textually, this is supported by Emma’s narration, as she is shown thinking it strange that Mr. Elton would leave Harriet behind. Accompanied by the thought, is an after thought of Emma’s where she excuses a single man like Mr. Elton’s blatant disregard for Harriet by thinking, “...such a passion for dining out; a dinner engagement is so high in the class of their

Emma is preparing Harriet for society, she adopts the role of Harriet’s mentor to instruct her in life choices, which is not very difficult with Harriet, who is easily manipulated. Emma has another suitor in mind for Harriet, and her pride will not give in to any other option. This second suitor then turns his attentions to Emma, and she is horrified. Her purposes are being destroyed by others' autonomy. Emma is too ignorant to fully understand why Harriet and Mr. Elton do not want each other. She likes to take the credit

* Manipulating reality to suit perception of it * Resulting self-deception, confusion, misunderstanding * Dramatic irony empowering us to see through human flaws and social failings of Emma. This often has unexpected results:-Mr Elton’s proposal “she could have been so deceived...she supposed, and made everything bend to it.”-Frank Churchill is flirty and appears to society to be interested in Emma but in fact secretly making visits to the Bates to visit Jane. Also at Coles dinner party Chapter 26, Frank asks Emma for a

Emma gains her provincial ideals early on in her life. When she receives news at the convent that her mother has died, she weeps for several days as a show of how sad she is (or should be). When her father comes to see if she is okay, she is “...inwardly pleased to feel that she had so quickly attained that rare ideal of a pale, languid existence, beyond the reach of mediocre spirits...she was finally surprised to discover that she felt quite tranquil again and that she had no more sadness in her heart than wrinkles in her forehead.” (Flaubert, 38). Flaubert paints her as a maiden who is obsessed with how romantic she looks to other people at all times of the day in all situations. Even when her own mother dies, she puts on a show to make sure

Though at first glance, Emma appears to be a generic romantic novel about virtue and ladyhood, Austen actually challenges what the meaning of “ladyhood” is to the reader. We view Emma’s follies, trials, and triumphs through the eyes of the omnipotent narrator who first describes Emma as a stereotypical, wealthy young lady who is “handsome, clever…with…a happy disposition” (1). Through the use of irony, Austen employs a series of situations in which Emma, a “lady” of high standing within her community, challenges conventional thinking of what it means to be a young woman in the early nineteenth century, particularly her ideas concerning marriage and

Austen reveals how self-transformation is necessary in maturing and establishing self-awareness. Emma Woodhouse possesses qualities that many would envy: beauty, intelligence, wealth, and youth. However, the positive aspects of Emma are equally contrasted by her personality. The novels begins with a description of the protagonist, "The real evils, indeed, of Emma 's situation were the power of having too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself: these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments."

Emma Bovary allows herself to be destroyed by the people she encounters and her obsession with falling in love. Emma is not happy with herself and her relationship so she looks for other people to fill the void. Emma never really realizes that she is the root of all of the troubles in her life. If she were more in touch with reality, she would realize that she needs to work on herself before blaming her love interests for not being like the men that she has read about in the past. Emma has a very unrealistic perception of love. Emma is unable to fall in love with anyone because she will always be dissatisfied. She destroyed her own marriage before it even started because of her preconceived idea of love. Charles is absolutely in love with Emma and would do anything for her but she does not feel the same way about him due to her fairytale idea of love. It seems as if she is not capable of separating her real life romances from the romance novels that she read when during her time at the convent.

towns in which Emma lives, places which by their very simplistic natures are anathema to a romantic such as Bovary. It is only through Emma’s depiction of these villages that they are cast as mundane and drab. Though the image exists of the small and backward town with its town gossips and town idiot, it can be seen that it is simply a town, one in which a person can be content—that is, if she is not the always-unfulfilled Emma Bovary. Thus the setting and the stereotypical characters add to the realistic atmosphere that confronts Emma.