For Monday: Emma, Chapters 1-8

 

For Monday: Austen, Emma, Chapters 1-8

NOTE: Feel free to read more than the first eight chapters if the mood takes you, but I want to start slow since starting any novel (especially Austen) takes a little getting used to. We’ll talk about some of the main characters and their relationships in class on Monday, as well as some issues of Class which are very important to the book. Give Austen’s language some time to sink in: this does not read like a modern novel, since the author’s voice is more like its own character, who makes snarky comments at times about the characters and even adopts their voices/perspectives. But once you get into it, I think you’ll find it very amusing and fascinating. Hope you enjoy it!

Answer two of the following:

Q1: In most novels of the time, and maybe novels of our time, Harriet Smith might be the main character, and Emma a side character (or even a villain!). Novels are usually about the education and growth of a young, naïve character into some kind of experience and wisdom, which Harriet would certainly qualify for. Based on that, why do you think Austen made Emma the main character? Doesn’t she seem already developed and ‘set’ as a character? Or is she writing a very different kind of novel?

Q2: Sort of related to Q1, why does Emma take such an interest in Harriet Smith? Are her motives truly altruistic, or does she have a selfish motive at heart? How do other people, such as Mr. Knightley, view her relationship with Harriet?

Q3: How does Emma define culture and being respectable in these chapters? Besides wealth, what separates someone (in her eyes) like Knightley and Robert Martin (the farmer who proposes to Harriet)? What makes someone worthy of polite society and her friendship? Do you think Austen agrees with this definition, or is it open for critique/satire?

Q4: What is the tone of Emma as a novel? Is it a satire like The School for Scandal, or a more serious/darker work like Dangerous Liasons? Or is it something more comic like Chaucer would write? How can we 'hear' the tone in the voice of the narrator herself? Can you isolate a specific passage that makes you confident of the tone/genre of the work itself?