Emma, Week 7

I AM SO HAPPY. EMMA AND MR. KNIGHTLEY FINALLY DECLARED THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER, AND THEY FINALLY GOT ENGAGED. :D :D :D :D. Whoo. It was so sweet how Mr. Knightley told Emma that he loved her. Here is part of it: "My dearest Emma, for dearest you will always be...my dearest, most beloved Emma...I cannot make speeches, Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you and lectured you , and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have...I have been a very different lover... Yes, you see, you understand my feelings--and will return them if you can. At present I ask...only to hear your voice" (pg. 453).  Woah. That is a really intense part of the whole book. Guess what I did while reading it? Yep, I cried. Typical Emma (me) reaction, right there. It was so sweet. I knew from even before reading it that they would end up together, and I always knew that Mr. Knightley was in love with Emma, and he has been for possibly years. But at this point, I realized that it was much more intense than I ever thought. He loved her and understood her so well that he didn't have to give an eloquently long and thoughtful speech of his love for her. I tried to imagine that if something like this ever happened to me, I think I would faint. I completely agree with him, that if you love someone enough, you shouldn't have to say much more than "I love you and I never want to be without you, and you know how I feel." This could very possibly be more touching to me than a whole huge long speech. While Emma is thinking this over and finishing her walk with Mr. Knightley, this thought occurs to her: "her total indifference toward Frank Churchill, of her having her heart completely disengaged from him, had given birth to the hope that in time he might gain her affection himself" (pg.455). It turns out that Mr. Knightley was just jealous of Frank! He loved Emma, and he had to escape to London in the last section so that he could get over Emma and try to forget about her because he was so hurt that Emma could be in love Frank Churchill, and not himself! He loved her so much that he couldn't bear to get in the way of her possible happiness with Frank, so he left to get over her. Ahhh! It's just so cute! I can't stand it! No wonder Jane Austen is said to be one of the best romance writers of all time. All of her books are so sweet and incredibly romantic. I am so glad that I read Emma. This was such an amazing book. I almost want to re-read it and now understand all the little details now that I know what happens... It would be so awesome to see how it all comes together! Oh, I just love cute books/movies that have happy endings. They make me so happy! Thank you, Jane Austen. This was an incredible story. :D

~Emma~

Emma, Week 6

SIGNIFICANCE OF A QUOTE: "A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress; she touched, she admitted, she acknowledged the whole truth. Why was it so much worse that Harriet should be in love with Mr. Knightley than with Frank Churchill? Why was the evil so dreadfully increased by Harriet's having some hope of a return? It darted through her with the speed of and arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!" (430). Yeah, this is a really long quote, but I feel that the whole thing is important to understand how Emma was feeling at this time of realization. She was discovering that she really didn't know her own heart very well at all. She has been so pre-occupied the rest of the book with other people's hearts and loves that she forgot about her own. She just realized that she was in love with Mr. Knightley the whole time. When Harriet shows a lot of interest for him, she realizes that she's jealous, and that's why she and Harriet actually openly fought about this situation for a few minutes. The cause of this argument was again, a misunderstanding of feelings. This seems to be a recurring theme in the book Emma. Misunderstandings and assumptions. It happens (even a few times maybe) in every section I read. It seems to me like it's the only thing holding the plot together (or not holding it together.... maybe tearing it apart....?). I find this really interesting that Jane Austen keeps putting them into the plot, when it just complicates matters further. I suppose it does make the book a lot more interesting and makes the reader want to keep reading and not stop. I know that it's worked for me. I can't stop reading it. Another thing that shoked me when I read this quote was how quickly Emma evaluated her feelings and her heart. It was astonishing to me how fast she could understand how she felt, and especially after such a long time of not looking into herself and knowing what her heart felt. For me, I have to do this very often because a lot of things happen that make you try to re-think decisions and feelings. It usually doesn't even take a couple minutes, either, even with how often I ponder things. I thought about how nice it would be to be able to do this so easily and quickly. It would save me a lot of time. But then, I just realized how maybe it takes her so little time because she doesn't have all that much to think about, like maybe, she's not that deep and thoughtful. She might be really shallow and vain (as I've discovered before), and that's why it's so easy. Something inside me wants to forgive her and say that she's not vain and shallow, because I like her so much. If one wanted to cynical and mean, though, she would definitely be shallow and vain. I think she's just very good at knowing her own feelings, which is why it's so easy for her. One more section! I'm going to miss reading about Emma! But, I want to know if she blows off her friendship with Harriet for Mr. Knightley, or if she forgets about Knightley to stay friends with Harriet.................

Emma, Week 5

Dear Emma,

I think you have the worst, and sometimes best, situation out of every character in the book. I can't believe how perfect you are sometimes, and then how many mistakes you occasionally make. I'm not saying that you are either one, but it's just so funny to see just how much you can change from one section to the next. In the part I just finished reading, you haven't really done that much yourself, you've just kind-of been there. It was mostly not you causing all the drama and things going on. Most of the things happening around you were caused by others in your social circle, and other sub-plots unraveling. However, I get the feeling that you are in the middle of every one of them. Somehow, I keep getting the feeling that you caused all of them in some way as well. Like the drama with Mr. Elton and Harriet at the ball. You weren't directly involved with that situation, but you definitely caused it, with your idea that those two should marry. Another drama that you may have begun was while having tea after the walk with everyone. They began to play word games and little puzzles, and then the word "dixon" was one that Frank came up with. He shows it to you, you understand, and then you showed it to Jane, which was a mistake. This was not such a good thing to do because you suspected that something had happened between a Mr. Dixon and Jane. This started some drama in the group because then Jane got very upset, and Mr. Knightley gets curious as to what happened during the tea. This, I think, causes a small rift between you and John, which you don't want, because you were getting along so well, especially at the ball, watching each other (....maybe starting to like each other....?!?!?!?!?!?!??! I hope?!?!?!?!). What I like about you is that so many people can like and respect you so much, while many people in the plot are, for lack of a better word, less vain than you are. But, you try your best to be the greatest person you can be. And I think you do a pretty good job. I like you a lot. Keep going! I want to know what happens to you!

~your twin, the other Emma~

Emma, Week 4

Dear Jane, 

You are an amazing author. I LOVE YOUR BOOK, "EMMA." It may, very easily, be my favorite book of all time. I am in love with it. It is so incredibly good, I just want to keep reading and reading and reading it forever and have it never ever end! I can't get enough of it. I have to force myself to stop reading it so that I don't get ahead of myself while reading it and so that I don't stay up until two in the morning reading it in bed with a flashlight. I love how similar it is to (unfortunately and pathetically) my life. It is so much like real life, I don't know how you captured it so perfectly in one plot. It just constantly amazes me, and I can't take it. I am currently at the part where Mr. Elton comes back from Bath with his new wife. It reminds Emma of her mistake in trying to match up him and Harriet. She feels exceedingly guilty as he remains around them. But, in this section, there has been a lot stuff that has happened to poor Emma. I feel so bad for her. She is just trying to be a good person and she's just trying to keep her social image up. These are kind of vain and selfish, but this is just how things were in her world. Those two things are what everyone was trying to do. I don't blame her, and I really hope things turn out alright for her. Because, in a way, Emma reminds me of myself this year. I have had a lot of dramas and problems in the social circle and with guys. It has been really difficult, and I've made some bad choices and mistakes in assuming things. I feel exactly like Emma does. What I've learned is that one can never assume anything about a relationship, because it will most likely be the wrong assumption. I think Emma (Woodhouse) has been slowly learning this lesson throughout the course of the book. It's something that takes a long time to learn, but it comes. I can't wait to read what happens to Emma in the end of the book.

~Emma~