Emma (Everyman's Library)
by Jane Austen

Description

Emma Woodhouse is rich, intelligent, artistic, happy...and bored. Her governess married, her father is widowed and occupied with his own irregular health issues and his own feelings and his own consolations. Emma, though charming and clever, is restless and impatient. Because of her monetary and social resources she attempts to restructure the life of her poor friend Harriet Smith by presenting her as a cultured woman who would be suitable marriage material to those of Emma's own social environment. Harriet, however, is acquaintanced by farmers and does not know her real parents, so her acceptability by Emma's group is questionable. Emma is intrusive and patronizing enough to offer Harriet to Emma's lofty community where Harriet is shy and afraid to insist on her own preferences. Instead she permits Emma these introductions. Nr. Knightly, a longtime neighbor of Emma and her father, sees a fault in the relationship between Emma and Harriet: Harriet overpraises Emma's choices and gives in to her worst temperaments. Emma's imperious hold on events and behaviors threatens to choke everyone involved until she is shown her mistakes and is saved from social catastrophe by Mr. Knightly. Emma begins to understand that she is spoiled and self-centered enough to only listen to her own opinion. Then she starts to forsake her condescending spirit and to become a better companion to her friends. She is also willing to admit her weakness at organizing the lives of others and to rearrange her priorities so that satisfaction with her own life becomes more important than governing the affairs of everyone else. Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.