Analysis of the Novel Emma by Jane Austen Writing Assignment

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Analysis of the Novel Emma by Jane Austen
Part 1
Jane Austen, the author of the novel, Emma, was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire in England. She was the seventh in a family of eight children- six boys and two girls. Her father was a clergyman. He served as the rector of Steventon in the county of Hampshire in South-Central England. She was born in a family that was very close to each other, and he grew up in an environment that stressed on learning and creative thinking. She usually accompanied her elder sister to two boarding schools and would later return home at the age of nine and begin to read from the extensive library that their father had at home. Jane had the advantage of growing up in an educated family. During the evenings when they would be carrying out their domestic activities, Mr. Austen would read a novel aloud to his family. Mr. Austen was devoted to the utility of improving conversation in his family. This was one of the reasons why the family was a novel reading family. The children would write plays and charades when they were free especially in the evenings.
Jane began her writing in bound notebooks. In the 1790s, she crafted her own novels and wrote Love and Friendship, which is a romantic fiction that is organized as a series of love letters. During the following year, she wrote, The History of England, which was a 34-page historical writing that had illustrations that were drawn by Cassandra. In her twenties, Jane had already written three unpublished novels; Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. After the removal to Chawton Cottage, she began to write again and before her death on July 18, 1817; she completed, Mansfield Park and Emma respectively. The inspiration for her writing career came from her family. Her father had a library where the children would read books, and during the evenings he would read a novel aloud to the family. Jane later adopted this, and she also began reading a novel to her family. After reading many other novels from different authors, Jane was inspired to write her novels.
Part 2
In Chapter 1 of the novel, the author sets up the situation from which the storyline of the novel begins. She begins with the character of Emma. We are told that Emma is left to herself as compared to the previous times where she had companions. She is left with the father whom she views as a lovingly accepted burden rather than a companion. The chapter appears to set up the opposition between imagination and reasoning that are based on realism. It is difficult for people to find their mates, but they can get mates through third parties that make the matches. Austen also appears to place the reader in front of two characters that are eligible for a marriage. Miss. Taylor and Mr. Weston appear to be relatively equal in terms of their characters and social standing. There is also the issue of social ranks in the society that has been identified through the talk of Emma and her father about the servants. The talk confirms Mr. Woodhouse's kindness to the others, and it appears to fix the idea of servant class which a person enters by birth and remains in the positionCITATION Ber78 \p 111 \l 1033 (Bernard 111). The chapter gives us a provincial situation of an established order that is mocked slightly by the presentation of Mr. Woodhouse's exaggerated conservatism. However, it is threatened by the change due to the arrival of a young woman who has been left in what appears to be an intellectual solitude. It is also ironical that the normal society and the human act of Miss Taylor's marriage lead to the disruption caused by Emma's solitary.
In the second chapter, we are informed on how Mr. Westin and Miss Churchill met. Mr. Weston was a former captain in a militia, and he was a Highbury native of a respectable family, and it is during his time as a captain that he met Miss Churchill who was coming from the great Yorkshire family. She later died three years later, and Frank, who was their only child went to live with the Churchills. The chapter concentrates on plain exposition and the preparatory material which places Mr. Weston and also points to Frank who later figures prominently in the whole story. Unlike the previous chapter, we encounter Frank in this chapter, and as observed he features in the rest of the story. The chapter also gives the impression of the happy appropriateness of Weston marriage, and it indicates the satiric potential of the low-key interests of the provincial communityCITATION Ber78 \p 112 \l 1033 (Bernard 112). The people are concerned with the affairs of each other, and they tolerate Mr. Woodhouse's selfishness.
Part 3
The passage found in Chapter 3 introduces minor characters such as Mrs. Bates and her daughter, Miss Bates. There are also the other characters such as Mr. Elton, who is a clergyman and Mrs. Goddard, who is a mistress of the nearby school. Emma also takes a young girl by the name Harriet Smith and tries to improve her by beginning with the adjustment of her acquaintances about the Martin family.
There are also stylistic devices that have been used in the chapter. One of them is the vivid description. Vivid description as a style in literature enables one to visualize the content that is narrated in the story to the reader. It has been used to clarify the social hierarchy that exists in Highbury SocietyCITATION Lau \p 4 \l 1033 (Laura 4). At the top of the hierarchy, we have The Woodhouses, the Westons and Mr. Knightley who own large estates. Mr. Elton follows them, and even though he does not have a lot of wealth, he remains relevant in the society since he is the vicar. The widow of the former vicar has also been described, and she has some status even though she has little money. Vivid description as a literary device enables the reader to visualize whatever is taking place in this passage.
Contrast has also been used as a stylistic device. The best and worst of Emma Woodhouse is revealed in her attempts to improve Harriet Smith. Emma has good intentions towards Harriet, and she genuinely wishes to help the girl by introducing her suitor, but on her side, Harriet appears to be meddlesome. She has developed an attitude that she is the one to improve her friend Harriet and she has no reservations to persuade Harriet to go against her personal feelings.
In the passage in Chapter 4 of the novel, Emma introduces Harriet Smith into her social circle by using her companion to replace Mrs. Weston. Mrs. Goddard has given Harriet little information about her parents. But she is aware that her father was a gentleman. Emma discovers that the son of the Martin family called Robert Martin has developed an interest in Harriet and she is not comfortable about it. When Emma has a conversation with Harriet, she tries ...