Time and space can be defined and presented in many different ways. Most of the time we simply try to explain and define time and space for ourselves in the present, although it can be just as insightful to do so for a given person and time, for example Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen’s Emma. Throughout this book there are many elements that help us define a sense of time and space- despite the fact that it is fictitious- and in doing so it can make it much easier to understand and connect with the story.
To briefly summarize the portion of the book that I will discuss, the book Emma takes place in England during the late eighteenth century, a time before almost all of today’s technology. The main character in the book is Emma Woodhouse who is an intelligent, beautiful, and very well-to-do young lady. She has recently “lost” a good friend due to marriage and has decided to spend her time refining a young girl, Harriet Smith, with intentions of marrying her to a man named Mr. Elton. However, there is another man, Mr. Martin, who wishes to marry Harriet, but Emma thinks of him as too lowly of a man for Harriett and convinces her to deny his proposal.
Emma’s perception of space is immediately and obviously different than ours. The story begins with her being deeply upset that her house maid and life-long friend, Miss Taylor/Mrs. Weston, is getting married and will therefore have to move out. Emma seems to act as if she will never see her again because she is now what I would guess to be about two miles away, which, if provided a horse and carriage, is not very far at all. Also, Emma spends almost all of her time at her own home, Hartfield. The book does not say exactly why this is but I find it very peculiar because she appears to interact with only a few people yet she is thoroughly concerned with what everyone thinks of her. I think that this helps show that Emma perceives her home at Hartfield as the only place of any importance.
The perception of time in the book is not as apparent as space is. In fact I believe the way Jane Austen writes the book is really the only perception of time that we can gather from and not so much how Emma perceives time. For example, Jane Austen leaves out almost any details about time; rarely mentioning how much time has passed from one scene to the next or even what time of day it is. This is a very interesting style of writing because it makes a majority of the book seem as if everything is one big event or even at times a sort of montage.
The setting and timing in this book quite clearly shows the differences in our perception of time and space as opposed to that of Emma Woodhouse’s. Also, in trying to identify and explain these differences it becomes both easier to understand the characters and their reasoning as well as provide a new aspect to how one reads and interprets the story of the book.
I agree that Emma is a good representation of time and space. Though the story itself is fiction, it does have historical qualities than we can take and examine in order to learn something. In this case, space is examined. I agree in all that you say there. Space was smaller then than it is now, changing social interactions, etc. In terms of time, I think the reason the book was written without much regard to time is exactly the point. We're so time conscious these days. We have to spend every second doing something. Back then, there were much fewer distractions. Waiting was a part of everyday life. Information was not so easy to come by.
ReplyDeleteThis blog brings up an interesting point: Emma stays home a lot. You would think that when Emma does leave she would be going out for business or necessities but it is almost always a social engagements that has her leaving her house. Perhaps this is easily explained by the fact that travel is so difficult during this time. It seems absurd to people of our time because we have so many options for how we can travel. In today's age, we have subway, buses, sidewalks, bikes, cars, airplanes(for long distances), and taxis. The point from the blog just shows how important social responsibility is to Emma that she will travel places she usually won't go just for a social engagement.
ReplyDeleteOne important thing to consider is the pace of life back in that time was considerably slower. It could take days just to obtain the happenings and going ons in say London. Now it is possible to know of a major event from anywhere around the globe in minutes if not seconds. Space is also similarly much smaller at this time. Travel was indeed more difficult as there were not even bicycles to help with transportation.
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