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book report on Emma

I've just finished Emma, which is required by my reading course. I'd like to share my book review with you all.


I feel fortunate to come across this novel Emma at the age of 20, going on 21—the same age of Emma in the book. Feeling what she felt centuries ago, I find myself in Emma—some of her characters and personalities I like, while some I strongly oppose.

A Quiet Corner
  ——friendship in Emma

Arguments and exposition of fans and foes of the book on love and marriage have never died down since Emma was firstly published, leaving the theme of friendship with little voice about it, just as a quiet corner.
One reason that may account for the neglecting is that little description about Emma’s friends can be found in the book.

The whole story begins when Emma is 21 years old, a vigorous age with laughter and tears, self-denial and confidence construction, losing and finding oneself. However, Emma who is premature in independent thinking seems to exceed her peers. The independence and maturity may partly fall on her mother’s early death. Mothers play a vital role in their children’s growth, which has no substitute for it. Mr. Woodhouse cannot make the compensation for the loss of motherhood; neither can the governess, Miss Taylor, who has been misunderstood by many people as the role-playing mother. From her attitude toward Miss Taylor, I can know for sure that Emma views Taylor as a respectable and reliable friend whose judgment was highly esteemed rather than mother. She loves Miss Taylor, but not to a degree as to Mother. I assume the deepest love is surely selfish. You love someone with heart and soul so that you want to own her all by yourself, reluctant to give him or her to anyone else or even share him or her.

However, Emma makes the match and is quite proud of it. She feels down for such short time that she finds her new companion, Harriet, and quickly shifts her attention and focuses on the new companion with huge interest. Then, what kind of role has Miss Taylor been playing during the rather long period of sixteen years? I’d like to quote the precise definition from the book—‘they had been living together as friend and friend very mutually attached.’ They are friends.

When binging up the word ‘friends’, many may think of Harriet Smith. However, I refused to believe that it can be defined as friends. I won’t treat my friends as those that I can call them anytime I feel lonely or just have nothing interesting to do yet without concerning that they might be occupied by some other things. I won’t impose my ideas on them, but I’d prefer to argue with them enjoying the spectaculars feeling of the crash of ideas. There’s no big deal that we’re different, and, to some degree, it is the difference or diversity that keeps friendship lasting. And most importantly, I will never ever interfere with my friends’ pursue of happiness which is quite a personal concept. An incident can reveal Emma’s attitude towards Harriet. She spares no effort making the match between Mr. Elton and Harriet. But when it comes to her situation facing the proposal of Mr. Elton, she turned him down without any hesitation, NOT because Mr. Elton is the Mr. Right of Harriet, just because she felt insulted and awkward to accept the proposal or even to have words with him. I am not prepared to talk about Mr. Elton, but it proves at least that Emma has no idea of what kind of person he is when encouraging Harriet fall in love with him who will be the future husband, the one Harriet puts her whole life’s happiness on. How can I regard Harriet as a friend of Emma’s? Then what’s their relationship? As a matter of fact, Harriet is just a companion of Emma. She is just a big toy without independent thoughts for Emma to kill time when it’s a little hush for Emma to lose Miss Taylor. She is just a foil(陪衬) to strengthen her confidence and superiority. Emma needs her obscurity(身份卑微) and admiration. That’s the reason why Emma dislikes or even envies Jane Fairfax who is perfect girl from any angle. It’s a till vivid scene just in front of my eyes that Harriet reassures Emma by praising her emotion in playing the piano though Jane was utterly more skillful. Poor Harriet! She can never find her identity in society and even dreams about Mr. Knightley. But I’d rather say understand than forgive Emma since, ultimately, Emma is a human being. She is still a 21-year-old girl.

Here comes our hero, George Knightley. He may rank the first as the most popular or widely-welcomed figure though he is still a few steps from perfection for his jealousy of Frank Churchill. Mr. Knightley is expected to take Emma home from page one. We all have no doubt about the happy ending yet still are curious about the ups and downs throughout the whole love journey. However, the venturesome journey and deep-berried love need a solid foundation—friendship. Love needs understanding, tolerance and appreciation. That’s the difference between love and passion. And that’s the secret why passion, which is sparked by the impulse of affection, fades away so soon while love can last for ever. Mr. Knightley is the only one that can marry Emma not only because of his financial and social status but his superiority in thoughts. Just as Jane Austin put it, ‘Mr. Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them.’ I believe love, as well as marriage, is more spiritual than material. However, their love derives from the bud of friendship and blossoms to its full beauty when stimulated by the sense of losing and treasure.

Having proved into the shuttle relationships between Emma and people around her, I conclude that there are two people that can be entitled to the friends of Emma—Miss Taylor (the later Taylor Weston) and Mr. George Knightley. The two people have one thing in common—they are both senior to Emma rather than her peers. Short of reliance on Mother, Emma becomes more independent in thoughts. The more independent one is, the more one explore in oneself, and the more intellectual or senior friends one need for reliance rather than peer companionship.