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Showing posts from 2013

A look at Jane Austen’s Emma

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(Disclaimer: This blog contains spoilers, so if you have not read or seen Emma , or other Jane Austen works, proceed with caution.) You may have guessed that I recently finished reading Emma by Jane Austen, which is known to be one of the top favorites of her works.  I did quite enjoy it myself and I agree that it is entertaining for being generally uneventful.  As I was reaching the conclusion, I realized that each novel I read before this one had some disastrous event occur before the end.  In Sense and Sensibility , Marianne Dashwood falls terribly ill and everyone is in fear of her not recovering.  Pride and Prejudice , Lydia Bennett runs off with Mr. Wickham and shames her family.  Mansfield Park , Henry Crawford, supposedly in love with Fanny Price, runs off with her married cousin, Maria Rushworth.  Mostly scandal, but always exciting in some way.  Emma lacks this exciting turn of events, unless you count the discovery of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax’s secret engagement. 

Taking a new direction

So I recently met up with an advisor at school and he told me I should write about what I read, or read about what I write… One of the two, whichever makes more sense. Anyway, he also asked me what it was I liked so much about the books I read, and it stumped me. The best possibly answer I could think of was escape. Escape from reality, open your eyes, look up to the skies and see… Sorry got a little Queen there. Basically it’s the escape from reality and a headfirst jump into someone else’s world for a short time, living vicariously through their life, experiencing an adventure you wouldn’t normally have on your own. I can see that as being the main reason most people read fictional stories, but I hope to find more answers for myself as I continue reading. This new direction I want to take is solely for this blog. I started this blog with no real purpose in mind, except to improve my writing and maybe get feedback from my readers. Since I have such a difficult time with devoting time