Point of View in the Life of Emma Grudger In any event, point of view can be the most crucial perspective for the understanding of meaning and importance in a particular situation. This can be demonstrated by reading the accounts of the life of Emma Gudger from two very different perspectives: that written by Emma, "So I Sung To Myself", and another written by James Agee, "The Gudger Family, 1936". In his portrayal of a poverty-stricken life in the south, James Agee focuses on one particular member of the Gudger family. Agee's choice of narrating his story around the life of the youngest daughter, Emma, best expresses the difficulty of life in poverty. Within the Gudger family, Emma has the most interesting and complex life as a result of her adolescence. Her sister, Annie Mae, is already older and married with a husband and their own house. Additionally, her father's life is a fairly simple one, characterized primarily by his work. Furthermore, Agee's focus on the life of Emma is a result of his obvious infatuation with her. In his opening line Agee explicitly states, "I am fond of Emma". Throughout Agee's writings he incorporates a sexual undertone, which the reader may interpret as somewhat of a secret lust for Emma. Agee refers to Emma as a "young queen" and later writes, "Each of us is attracted to Emma". This gives the reader a false sense that Emma's life is purely sexual when in reality, her character is much more complex than this. Whether a result of Emma's complex life or Agee's attachment to Emma, Agee's choice of a narrative voice only presents her life through one limited point of view. This may sometimes cause the reader to miss Agee's point. For example, after reading Emma's first person account of her own life the shortcomings of Agee's perspective are made evident. After reading Emma's first person account of life in the south, one can grasp the importance of point of view in the narration of such events. It is undoubtedly clear that the two texts both show how rough her life was, though Agee does this in an entirely different fashion. Not only is she the most interesting, but also she goes through the most change. She moved around extensively and at times was impulsive. "But anyway he got the license and came after me and I ran away when I saw him coming.
Further, throughout the book, Sadie and Bessie continuously reminds the reader of the strong influence family life had on their entire lives. Their father and mother were college educated and their father was the first black Episcopal priest and vice principal at St. Augustine Co...
Emma's arrogance shines through when she brags that she is exceptionally skillful at matching couples. She believes that she is in control of fate and must play matchmaker in order for couples to discover their true love. Austen confirms, "The real evils indeed of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself" (Austen 1). Although Emma is so spoiled and overbearing, she truly doesn't realize this fact.
...express all the ideology of modern day feminism. Unfortunately, neither of these scenarios is faithful to the scenario of an unconventional Victorian woman as portrayed by a Victorian female author. This is not to say that the filmed versions of Emma are not entertaining or without merit in their own right. rather, it is to suggest that instead of faithfully recreating Austen's work, the filmmakers felt it necessary to add their own personal interpretations of the work, modern interpretations that serve to undermine Austen's text. Like the tightly controlled, oppressive environment of Victorian England, Austen's Emma is best understood from within the confines the ideology of that elitist microcosm, not through the lens of modern interpreters who try to impose their own values on it.
Throughout the selection, the audience modal analysis shifts based on who is speaking and who is being addressed. Majority of this text’s audience modal analysis is lyric. The main character Elizabeth always address herself and what’s going on in her life, and about her husband. This book is also revolves around God. The main objective of the book is to allow God to be the head of you life. Another important character, Miss Clara, represents a muse that helps guide Elizabeth to the right path of
Before the interference of other classes and characters, Emma embraces her naïve self, defining the whole-hearted middle class. The novel begins with her enjoying her life on a farm, with the convent in her past, relying quaintly on herself and her father. In Emma’s background, she does not compare her life to other factions of society, nor does he allow for any sort of riches to impact her way of thinking. In fact, she has no desire to leave her life, to the extent that “when she went to confession, she invented little sins in order that she might stay longer [in the convent]” (Flaubert 24). Her fond memories of her life in the convent prove that she enjoyed her life of practice. While members of church society did not lead lavish lives, this does not seem to hinder Emma’s thoughts on her lifestyle. She reflects the middle class, though she indulges her past, she never obtains the thought process that more money would lead to a better life for her. The way that she idolizes her former life reflects this time as a growth point and positive period of her life. When Charles first visited her “she laughed at getting none of it [milk]” (Flaubert 15). Flaubert p...
Emma is born a woman in France during the early 19th Century, and as such is doomed from the start to be a victim of the misogynistic bourgeoisie. As was the case for all women at the time, Emma was completely reliant on Charles to provide the quality of life she desired – and indeed her very identity – as she was not in a position that she could exercise such control herself. In marrying Charles, she ceased to exist as Mademoiselle Emma Rouault, and simply became Madame Charles Bovary, the doctor’s wife. Emma realised that she had blown her only chance to pursue the life she felt she deserved. “Pourquoi, mon Dieu! me suis-je mariée?
In the novel, Emma has two affairs; one with a landowner named Rodolphe Boulanger and another with a law clerk named Leon. When Emma first meets Leon, she is attracted to him because they share an appreciation for music and literature, but she doesn’t cheat with him because she wants to keep her image of a good mother and wife. Here the reader sees Emma as a morally ambiguous character because she stays faithful to her family, but later in the book when Leon returns, Emma falls for his newfound urban experience and ends up having an affair with him. At first readers are happy that Emma stays loyal to herself and her family, but then she ends up falling for him and readers see that she does whatever to please herself. This affair reveals Emma’s moral ambiguity and plays a
Emma and Estelle are quite similar characters. They are both victims of lust in their own stories. Both are extremely dissatisfied in their marriages ‘Oh, why, dear God, did I marry him?’(Flaubert Pg41). This leads them each to seek refuge through extramarital affairs. Estelle takes a younge...
Emma projects her views of an ideal man in her expected son. As if fantasizing what her life would be like having the control that men have in society. The resentment she feels towards her choices correlates to the resentment she feels being a woman. Emma tries to prevail over the obstacles of being a woman by trying to do activities that a man would typically do like going out all night in town, spending vast money on a rendezvous and courting a desired companion. After Leon’s departure the narrator speaks of Emma’s method of copi...
In Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen has created a wonderfully flawed heroine. Had Emma been perfect, her situation would have been of no interest to anyone; her flaws are what interest both reader and critic. Peter W. Graham is interested particularly with the first page of the novel where Emma is first introduced to the reader. He discusses how significant the beginning of the novel is to mapping out "Emma's personal development"(42). Walton A. Litz and Patricia Meyer Spacks are much more interested in what Emma's imagination shows about her development. Litz says that "[t]he basic movement of Emma is from delusion to self-recognition, from illusion to reality"(369). Spacks takes the opposite argument suggesting Emma doesn't grow but is simply alleviated of her boredom and her imagination disappears with it. I think Emma's growth throughout the novel is pronounced; she starts out loveable enough but with much to learn. She grows from self-delusion to self-awareness and learns to see truth and not just what she wants to see. She also grows in her social vision, although not as much as one may hope. All in all Emma makes significant developments and it is easy to imagine that with more time and Mr. Knightley's influence she will only continue learning and growing.
Jane Austen's Emma is a novel of courtship. Like all of Austen's novels, it centres on the marriage plot: who will marry whom? For what reasons will they marry? Love, practicality, or necessity? At the centre of the story is the title character, Emma Woodhouse, an heiress who lives with her widowed father at their estate, Hartfield. At the beginning of the novel, she is a self-satisfied young woman who feels no particular need to marry, for she is in the rather unique condition of not needing a husband to supply her fortune.
Emma, a novel by Jane Austen, is the story of a young woman, Emma, who is rich, stubborn, conniving, and occupies her time meddling into others' business. There are several recurring themes throughout the novel; the ideas of marriage, social class, women's confinement, and the power of imagination to blind the one from the truth, which all become delineated and reach a climax during the trip to Box Hill. The scene at Box Hill exposes many underlying emotions that have been built up throughout the novel, and sets the stage for the events that conclude it.
Emma desires freedom and cannot gain it due to the fact that she cannot leave Charles. Emma is scared that her husband will discover her financial spending issues. She is also paranoid that Charles will find out about her various love affairs with Leon and Rudolph. Emma does not get the satisfaction she needs from Charles. The spark of their romance together has died and Emma gets bored of him and feels as if she is stuck in the relationship, for Emma and Charles contrast. Emma is dissatisfied with Charles: “He seemed so feeble, a nullity, a creature pathetic in every way. How could she get rid of him? What an interminable evening! Something altogether deadening, like opium fumes, was taking hold of her” (Flaubert 234). Emma feels numb and wonders how she can get rid of the man she married, the overbearing man that loves her, yet cannot seem to satisfy her. Charles is oblivious to the fact that Emma is having doubts about the relationship which causes Emma to become even more unhappy with him. Charles is certain in what he wants and cares for Emma dearly, as a husband should, but this only makes life harder for Emma. Emma is selfish while Charles is not. The unhappiness Emma gains from her marriage causes her
Emma has high expectations for love due to reading many romantic novels. These novels excite her and fuel her desire to marry the man of her dreams. However, her dreams of having the perfect romance are shattered almost immediately after marrying Charles. Their love was not like the ones she read about in books. Charles, the realist, did not satisfy Emma, the romantic.
Austen tries to identify her fictional characters with those in her life, including herself (Hardwick 12). Austen explores the difficulties of 'independence', those problems that life poses for a person who seems to have everything (Dwyer 89). The relationship between Emma and Mr. Knightley reflects Austen has appreciation of her own independence (Dwyer 95). Emma never thinks that she can fall in love. She always plays match-maker for her friends, but when it comes to herself, she doesn't know. Emma doesn't realize she is in love with Mr. Knightley until near the end of the novel (425). Like Emma, Austen has realized that her position and her skill have given her the power to bully and enlighten or be charming at the same time (Dwyer 94). At one occasion when Emma has a little picnic with her friends, and Miss Bates is there, Emma shows that she does have the power to bully Miss Bates and at the same time enlighten the others that are in her company (238). Laurie Lanzen Harris says of Jane Austen, "Austen possess a masterful ironic insight, whose strength and sensibility are perhaps best revealed in a character confrontation with this dichotomy of reality and the power of self-delusion" (Harris 29). Self-delusion explains Austen's writing so well. Austen's works are truly concerned with moral values in life, and her satire is the best when aimed at the snobby and presumptuous class (Harris 29). This statement held true being that Austen was part of that class and most of her settings in her novel revolve around the upper class.