Blog #21

After recently finishing Volume II of Emma by Jane Austin, I decided to dedicate this blog to my thoughts of the novel thus far. The first volume of the novel was interesting mostly because of the fact that it was set in the regency era, a time period that I find personally intriguing. However, once the initial excitement about the setting of the book and the lavish descriptions of the settings and parties involved within I began to grow bored of the slow moving pace that the book followed.

I guess I should not have been so surprised that a novel written during such a leisurely time period was to include a pace that reflected the every-day activities of the people within the book; however I was pleasantly surprised with volume two. Volume two still followed the same leisurely pace as that of volume one but I came to understand that with each detailed description of an engagement or a dance I came to understand that the description contained an underlying meaning that added to the overall feeling or even in some case humor to each situation. For example, the description of the initial meeting and relationship between Emma and Frank Churchill, the encounter between the two is surrounded by the extensive description of elements within their environment that at first glance may be interpreted as superfluous and not necessary of such vast description.

However, at a closer examination these descriptions can be beneficial in determine the longevity of the relationship between the two and perhaps even the specific views of such particular characters as Emma and her true feelings behind the relationship between her and Frank Churchill. A particular example, would be when Frank and Emma meet. Their initial relationship is fueled by the idea that Mr. and Mrs. Weston have decided that a match between the two would be extremely beneficial for both parties. This blatant observation is beneficial to this interpretation of the relationship, but much subtler actions such as when Frank Churchill leaves for London just to get a haircut.

 When I first read this I was astonished at the superficiality of such an action, who would travel hundreds of miles, especially at a time when a horse drawn carriage was the primary mode of transportation. However, the tools I have learned from this fabulous AP Literature class in which I have learned to look deeper into the meaning of the text allowed me to draw a different conclusion. Within this situation, Frank Churchill had met with Jane through subsequent callings on her; the result of these callings is that Emma has been won-over by the charm of Frank.

His abrupt departure could be viewed as a smaller version of the departure of other important elements in Emma’s life such as the death of her mother and the departure of her childhood governess. The return of Frank can be representative of the future of Emma’s personal relationships in which she is rewarded with the longevity of a relationship rather than the abruptness of one.

Blog #20

Blog #20

I would like to begin this blog with the statement that while I do enjoy the book, Emma, I feel that it is composed if a lot of unnecessary fluff. This feeling is supported by the fact that the topic written about in this book is based off of the life of a Victorian-aged community in the country side. The most exciting things going on during this time were such things as "bridge tables" and "dinner parties", granted when one's life revolves around such mundane activities it is reasonable to say that a book written about them wouldn't be very interesting on the surface.

That being said, I have begun to realize that the fundamental form of communication and social construct within this novel is based off if this idea of "visits". It seems as if the entirety of the society is embedded in either the act of "visiting" or talking about who visited who and when and where. I readily accept the claim that this idea seems so novel to me because I unfortunately live in the age when text messages replace love letters and spotify playlists replace midnight serenades by the man of your dreams. Perhaps this is why i am having such a hard time grasping the consequence or severity of some of the issues presented within this novel. It behooves me to think that one person should be forbidden to marry another person because someone does not approve, or that one must have scheduled and chaperoned visits coordinated by an appropriate mutual friend before any sort of marriage proposal can be drawn up. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely love to live in the Victorian age. Corsets, dresses, tea, and dashing young men in coattails have been a part of every little girl's dreams since she heard her first fairy-tale.

I have called to attention all of these things for my own personal purpose of discovering if there perhaps is a deeper meaning behind this book. Did Jane Austin write this book with the underlying notion of commentating on the state of the current political party? Are there gender or racial digs hidden underneath the description of Emma's dress? I do not seem to think so based on my reading of the first volume of the book, but in a way i am hoping that there is something more. I would rather this not be a "gossip girl" of the 18th century.

Blog #19

     Upon reading the first few pages of Emma, I realized that this novel is not going to be the “old fashioned gossip girl” novel that I was hoping it was going to be. The sentence structure and word usage are so rich that it takes a long while to be able to read a paragraph once and fully understand it. In addition to the atypical structure of this novel, I also have come to realize that the setting of this novel will also take some getting-used-to. Now, I must admit that I have read my fair share of historical fiction novels, some of my favorites being Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. In fact, historical fiction in the Victorian time period has become one of my favorite genres to read. Something about corsets and huge dresses and fabulous balls makes reading about this time period so interesting. Of course in the AP Lit spirit, I decided to do a little background on Emma to help with the reading of the beginning of the novel.

     Emma was published in 1816 and is set in the early Victorian time period. During this time, a woman’s breeding was what defined her. It was as much a part of her identification as were her physical characteristics. The vast importance of this aspect of life resulted in an extremely exaggerated focus on marriage. The basis of a “good” marriage prospect is based majorly on good breeding and less so on affection and compatibility. These main points of society in this time period are what make the book, so interesting. Emma decides that she is inherently gifted with the ability to play “cupid” and be a professional matchmaker. However, my prognosis is that her talents will be ill-received in regards to the fact that in that time period, marriage was not only a ceremony to join two people together and make them happy, but it was also a business deal and more often than not it was not just two human’s being joined together for the rest of their life but rather two families or two enterprises or two empires being joined together for the rest of their lives.

     In reflecting on this aspect, this is where I believe the majority of the conflict between characters will come from. From my preliminary reading as well as Mrs. Clinch’s lectures, I have gathered that Emma is a very controlling and a very demanding person. She is someone who always wants to have it her way. Also, the fact that she is dealing with something as important (during this time) as marriage, she is going to definitely come across problems within the society.