Emma

 

Genre: Novel of manners
Author: Jane Austen
Rating: Read the disclaimer

Disclaimer: I should admit, I picked up Emma purely because of Pride and Prejudice. I did not write a review for Pride and Prejudice and so I was not sure if I should write a review – considering the fact that it is a classic. But I so badly wanted to rant about it. So here we go - A book discussion of Emma – NOT a book review.

After reading the book, while drafting this, I was wondering what genre this book belonged to. Romance? No. Friendship? Nope. Comedy? Nah. Coming-of-age? No way. Drama? Not exactly. So I ended up Googling it and found a whole new genre whose existence I was clueless about – Novel of Manners.

Emma is a novel about “youthful hubris and romantic misunderstandings” that “involves the relationships among people from a small number of families” is what Wikipedia says. I say Emma is a futuristic novel. Why, you ask? Let me explain the story and its relatability to the present. Emma is a young girl who lives with her father. She entertains love and matrimony for everyone except herself because she wants to stay with and take care of her parent. Emma befriends Harriet and encourages her to discourage Robert Martin, a farmer’s admiration, and makes her believe that she likes Mr Elton. Come on now, let’s be real, all of us have been Emma and poked our nose in our bestie’s relationship. But Mr Elton proposes to Emma which is just like how when we befriend 50 people and at least one of them will mistake our friendship for love (BGM – FRIENDS by Anne-Marie and Marshmello). Emma obviously rejects him, and a few months later Mr Elton marries a rich woman. He just pulled a gold-digger prank on himself. Enters Frank Churchill who is cool and carefree and confesses his feelings for Emma who for a short while believes she could reciprocate his feelings. A few months later, Emma is convinced that he would end up with Harriet.  Almost near the end of the book, it is revealed that he is secretly engaged to Jane Fairfax. He reminds me of some people I meet in social media – committed to one but flirts with everyone. Harriet who was stalking her make-believe ex, Mr Elton, is made to believe by her friend, Emma, that Frank Churchill might be in love with her because he did something heroic for her. But Harriet takes it well when Churchill’s engagement is disclosed because she is in love with Mr Knightley instead. Yup, I know who you just remembered. I too have a friend just like Harriet. However, this love of hers is never brought to the limelight because Mr Knightley loves Emma since she was 13 and he was 29. What? I am not going to comment on it. I love Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra. Now you see why I called it futuristic? 

The book is divided into 3 volumes and speaks mostly about the people of Highbury and other relatives of Emma. One might think some scenes and many dialogues are unnecessary. But those scenes and dialogues are the ones that bring to us the ways of living in the 19th century and people’s perceptions of various matters such as relationship, matrimony, society, class, and mannerisms. This is why Emma belongs to the genre of Novel of Manners.

I doubted it while reading Pride and Prejudice but I am assured after completing Emma. My mom was definitely a close relation of Jane Austen in her previous birth. How else could I explain the resemblances between Austen’s depiction of parents and my mum!

Although I did not appreciate Emma’s interference in Harriet’s love life, it only seemed pragmatic to have a perfect protagonist with empathetic flaws. The numerous characters create an image of the influence of wealth and class in assessing the respect a person deserved back in the 1800s. Needless to be said, I love Jane Austen’s work. The language is rich giving a clear quality sketch of each scene in our minds. At last, I love the climax. I like how Harriet ends with Robert Martin, someone rejected at the beginning merely because he is a farmer. What I love the most about the book is Mr Knightley. I love Mr Knightley as much as I love Mr Darcy. He is honest, righteous, wise, considerate, kind, and takes no non-sense. If there is one thing I dislike about him, it would be the fact that he is fictitious. *Poker face*

Overall, Emma is a great book. I don’t think I would re-read it like Pride and Prejudice. Yet, a great book. If you love classics, this should definitely be on your TBR list.

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