Emma Moments

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. The Narrator on Emma Woodhouse

The opening line of Emma is so honest! Poor Miss Woodhouse. Her world is so lacking. To be handsome, clever, and rich and not a vex in sight? Whatever is a girl to do?

So, when your life is so polished and predictable, the question on every rich, privileged, and beautiful young ladies mind; — to vex or not to vex? When does entertainment and social works evolve into interference and detriment? A modern day question to ask Paris Hilton perhaps?

Jane Austen has created a fallible heroine for us to cheer on and reproach like a daughter. Is she presenting a larger issue? Do we design of our lives, or does life design us? Which road will we take?

Will we vex, or not?