Resumo de Emma - Jane Austen

It is difficult to imagine how a book written in 1816 can still be relevant and emotionally viable, after so much change in literature. And while female gender roles have evolved and broadened (causing certain things to become irrelevant- like the drastic choice between marriage or condemnation), Emma remains one of the most complex and ambivalent characters in literature. Perhaps because Austen's major theme- pride- is a rather timeless attribute in humans.

Austen was quoted as wanting to create a character "no one but self will much like," and Emma certainly answers that promise. Emma is a talented, highly intelligent woman who carries so much pride, that she deems every man an ill-suitor for her, while an under-adjusted adolescent side of her secretly resents such men for being turned off by her harsh arrogance, smugness, and severity. She acts as a match-maker for her less fortunate common friends, bringing them together with men whom she despises; thus ridding herself of her own ingrown desires while condescendingly `helping' her girl-friends meet men who share their mediocrity. As difficult as it is to like Emma, readers will find her mysteriously compelling, perhaps because there are moments of confused kindness, where our heroine is able to transcend her vanity and truly feel happy for the couples she brings together.

Enter Mr. Knightley, who after a tiresome handful of preceding men, is able to gain Emma's respect and affection simply by not buying into her mind games and calling her on her actions. Austen's genius is most manifest in her witty dialog, and the dynamic between Emma and Mr. Knightley- in their bantering flirtations veiled under intellectual stimulation- are testament to that.

This novel is about self-image, and for a woman in 19th century patriarchal society that is all she has. Emma owns her self-importance until the men notice, until it becomes real (and despite early feminist tendencies, this only re-confirms female's subordination to men in that social context). Regardless of how readers feel about Emma, the novel is superbly written with wit, irony, and an almost ruthless emotional verity. If an author's goal is to gain her reader's empathy, Austen set out for herself a highly ambitious goal, one that was improbably executed with grace.

Happy Reading

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