There is something about Emma’s character that I believe I can relate to. Not her loud ego of course, but the way she wants everything to be controlled. I am not that overjoyed when change occurs. Here is a paragraph on my representation using the content of “Emma”- of a plan for my friend that has backfired, and myself looking over the decisions I’ve made and how I now realise my friend’s true needs.

emma_harriet

Image : Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Harriet Smith (Toni Collette)
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How can this be? Something as simple as cheap affection towards one has collided with feelings for another. How could this be?

I thought I was doing the right thing, I was pushing her in a direction I thought she deserved, something which was better.

Now, after all the hard work, I have been in the wrong. I tried to push her towards a life that was better, towards people that I deemed as being better.

Her feelings for the one she has true affections for have been suppressed because of my wrongdoing. I was the one that proclaimed that he wasn’t good enough for her. When he could have given her all the emotional treasures in the world.

This pain is one I’ve never felt before; a true friend being broken by rejection is an aching that one may never come back from. I’ve reflected over my doings, I believe that ‘I’ have been looking for myself, what I deserve and not taking into account the needs of my friend.

The friendship we share is more important than the control I have a need of. Did I listen, when she spoke? Did I care, when she spoke? Why did I do this was it for popularity, pride or even praise?

She wanted a love that was true and pure, not a facade or something of just looks. The societal hierarchy doesn’t matter to her. She wanted a partner in life that would walk through it with her on the good days and the bad.

The one she wants awaits her and I will not stand in her way no longer. Let the course of true love be known and let my meddling be deceased at once.

8 thoughts on “#2 My friend’s true needs”

  1. Hey Annaliese, I feel like you’ve done a wonderful job in getting into the mindset of Emma and expressing the thoughts she most likely would have been feeling at the time. I’d be interested in hearing your take on how you think Emma’s feelings are towards Harriet, after confessing her love for the very man Emma herself loved. Just a friendly suggestion to further expand on your well-composed self-reflection from the perspective of Emma Woodhouse. I look forward to reading more 🙂

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  2. Hi Annaliese,
    I feel you have captured the voice and spirit of Emma in a very Austen way, but also using your own style at the same time. It almost reads like a lost chapter that perhaps Jane tucked away in a draw somewhere. I would have liked to learn more about how you connect with Emma in terms of controlling situations, overall, a great entry. I look forward to reading more.
    Brendon

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  4. That is well written and effective Annaliese! Well done. You really get inside the situation and imagine yourself there, with the problem that Emma has created for herself. Good work.
    MG

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