Emma

Emma is quite different from the other literary works we have read in this class, at least to my mind. It is more direct and explanatory as it unfolds itself, making it easy to follow and apppreciate. The story also seems to resemble the modern novel a little more closely as well. .

There is obviously a narrator in this story. It is the narrator's voice that interests me the most. It is ever-present, audible in the lines and pages of the story, yet is not like Behn's narrator. The reader does not seem to be told what to think. At least as far I have read, there do not seem to even be the vague suggestions on what the reader should take from the story as was present in Evelina. In my ears, I felt like I could hear the voice of the main character, Emma, as the narrator even when the reader was not seeing the story from over her shoulder.
The cover of the book (Penguin Classics copy) also struck me. Assuming the picture is Emma's, it seems quite fitting for Emma at least considering the personality painted by the story. She has a smug expression on her face, that is almost openly defying. The expression seems to defy the norms in a relatively subdued and almost submissive manner. One could surmise that her expression was borne of fatigue, if one had not been exposed to her as a character in the story.