Please remember this family in your thoughts and prayers as they navigate the difficult path of cancer treatment. Emma will undergo chemotherapy with on/off cycles that span weeks at a time at a hospital facility.
Emma and Principal Figgins’ argument provides an excellent case study on balancing rights and responsibilities within school settings. It raises questions of freedom of speech as well as maintaining an conducive learning environment.
Class
Emma’s social status shapes her interactions with minor characters from lower social classes. Austen uses free indirect discourse to evoke Emma’s thoughts, helping the reader gain an understanding of her views.
The clash between Emma and Principal Figgins illustrates how power works within schools. It raises issues related to freedom of speech, discipline and authority as well as providing an excellent opportunity for schools to examine ways in which they can manage these situations effectively while creating safe learning environments that promote productive and respectful interactions among pupils.
Emma Argue with Principal Figgins supports bytecode instrumentation both offline after compilation or on-the-fly via its custom class loader hooks (on-the-fly mode). Report generation can be flexible with support for package, source file, class and method coverage reports as well as both normal and weighted basic block coverage metrics based on Java’s bytecode instructions (the latter can be disabled if preferred), making Emma suitable for both personal development as well as enterprise applications.
Gender
Austen’s choice to pit Emma against Knightley illustrates her desire to challenge gender norms and assumptions, an aspect many scholars refer to as her female “bildungsroman”, or novel that portrays growth through interpersonal interactions and domestic spaces.
Miller notes this feminization of domestic life through Emma’s preference for activities such as piano and painting over more feminine pursuits like sewing or dancing, or her interest in gossip as a means of connecting with women without needing an heterosexual marital relationship.
Emma attempts to transcend gender binaries through her interactions with Frank Churchill, as she assumes his masculine traits. However, this idea quickly fizzles as Emma does not wish to lose control over those around her and so settles for an arrangement which does not confer wealth or social status upon her.
Society
Emma is an unreflective young woman who believes that she is always the smartest one in any room. However, she misapplies her knowledge and power in ways which are detrimental to both herself and her friends.
As an upper-class citizen, Emma enjoys many leisure-time options that afford her many liberties to pursue feminine pursuits without incurring financial or family burdens. This gives her time and opportunity to ignore Harriet Smith’s romantic feelings for Robert Martin – an impoverished farmer leased land from Mr. Knightley.
Emma’s behavior mirrors her arrogant and condescending attitudes toward people she believes are below her social status, marking an epiphany moment between Harriet and Emma as she realizes how her knowledge and power had been misapplied. At that time she realizes she had been misjudging Harriet’s character and home based solely on superficial and arbitrary presumptions about class.
Power
Emma has up until this point been an enthusiastic proponent of traditional values like gentility based on wealth and social standing, including reinforcing traditional notions such as gentility. However, when Emma asks to have input into Harriet’s matches as well as making vanity-driven insults to Miss Bates on Box Hill and flirtations with Frank Churchill and Mr Elton she enters uncharted waters.
She now finds herself entering into a position of power, and her exchange with Principal Figgins provides an interesting case study on how women can exert positive forms of authority while staying within acceptable parameters of behavior.
Here she displays real debating abilities, deftly maneuvering and recalculating her strategy in an instant – something which 18th century conduct books advised women not to do! This moment exemplifies her gradual shift away from viewing herself as the ideal matchmaker and towards developing an understanding of the ways she can assist others.