SSR Book Report: Emma

By: Abby Juarez

In the beginning, Emma is described as a rich, beautiful matchmaker. Her mother died when she was young and as a result of that, she met Ms. Taylor, her nanny. She had set up Ms. Taylor with Mr. Weston, a past widower. From that day on, she fell in love with setting people up. Time had passed as Emma meet Harriet and wants to match her up with Mr. Elton, a fine young man in the village.  At the same time, a man name Mr. Martin who has feelings toward Harriet proposes and Emma is suggesting to reject him. 

While Harriet and Mr. Elton are talking, Emma then realizes that Mr. Elton has feelings towards Emma and is using Harriet to get to know Emma more. He later remarries. All of a sudden, a new boy named Frank Churchill who is Mr. Weston’s son moves into town. Although not a lot of people like him, Emma has found him very charming and handsome as she thought him and Harriet would make a good couple. Towards the end of the book, Mr. Martin proposes again and Harriet happily accepts. 

The book uses a lot of imagery and are very good at setting a scene. “Mrs. Goddard’s school was i  high repute, and very deservedly; for Highbury was reckoned a particularly healthy spot: she had an ample house and garden,gave the children plenty of wholesome food, let them run about a great deal in the summer, and in winter dressed their chilblains with her own hands.” (15) Another one would also be to describe a party scene. “Every invitation was successful. They were all disengaged and all happy. The preparatory interest of this dinner, however was not yet over. A circumstance rather unlucky occurred.” (212) 

There are many examples of irony. One example of situational irony would be that even though Emma is another version of cupid, she is too gullible to realizes that some of the relationships are not meant to be. Mr. Martin was clearly a better choice than Mr. Elton and Emma suggested that Harriet should reject him. Sure, she means well but she does not actually know what she is doing. Another example would be dramatic irony when the readers can tell that Harriet has feelings for Mr. Martin rather than any other of Emma’s options. Lastly, some examples of verbal irony is Emma thinking about her relationship with Franklin and how she does not doubt her love for him. However, the author is using this as a reference to how back in the day, women identified love as daydreaming about them and writing them letters.