Emma on Emma ~Blog post #2~ Topic J April 24, 2015 by Alie Reily

Emma on Emma

~Blog post #2~

Topic J

April 24, 2015

By Alie Reily

            Emma by Jane Austen is a book centered on a girl named Emma Woodhouse.  Appropriately, the title of the book is just her name.  As stated before, the novel is centered on Emma; no other characters are focused on as much as she is.  This may sound obvious, but if one pays attention to other books, they may not focus on one character as much.  For example, in In the Time of the Butterflies, the novel is centered on all four sisters, relating to one central story.  On the other hand, though Emma has one central plot, it only truly focuses on Emma.  Other characters are mentioned often and are very crucial to the story, but none of them are evaluated as deeply as Emma is. The title reveals this the moment the reader picks up the book.  It shows that Emma, standing alone, causes conflicts.  She repeatedly runs into problems while going about her day-to-day life. Emma puts stress onto her father, has conflicts with Mr. Knightly, and creates a deep divergence with Harriet Smith. Emma seems to think more of her relatives, friends, and even enemies as the novel progresses, but she still is “too eager and busy in her own previous conceptions and views” (99).  The title represents Emma’s personality.  Not many books have one-word titles, and even fewer have the name of one of the characters in the story as the title.