Catherine Morland: worthy of hero status?

I think Catherine Morland will be the underdog of Northhanger Abbey. She is going to surprise everyone. I mean from the very first descriptions of her she is poor and plain. As she gets older however she gets more and more accomplished and beautiful.

I think she will just keep surprising people by her ability to sing, draw, read, write and play the piano, in being an accomplished lady. She will be quick witted and make everyone laugh. She will be the life of the party. That is my prediction but we shall see if this is right.

From her character so far it seems as if she is one of those girls who like to prove people wrong or surprise people with doing something they do not expect. I can say that I identify with her in this way.

I think the way she will rise to the hero status will be in the following way:

She is going to save some one's life. They will be drowning and she will save them. Then she will be rewarded and looked upon as a hero, then she will be given first choice over whom she wants to marry in gratitude to her.

Is there an Emma in your life?

There is a person in my life that is closely related to Emma. She has almost the same personality. She gossips all the time about people. She is not a bad person as we look upon gossipping as a negative connotation, she just has a lot of time on her hands. They both love to gossip, try and figure out who should marry whom and why, they are aware of the latest trends, fashions, etc. and talk to other people about their observations. There are times when it is enjoyable to talk to my friend about something girl related, such as boys, beauty, deep thoughts, day to day events, etc., but then there is also a bad thing about that as well. I almost feel as if I am prying into someone else's life and I feel guilty like I shouldn't know this kind of information. My friend doesn't mean to hurt anyone but I don't think she has any idea how her observations could potentially hurt some one's feelings. I think that is the same with Emma. I mean did anyone ever say to her, "hey this is my life leave me alone!" No, but I think at some point Emma should leave people alone and let them live their lives.

Emma's Facebook

I think Emma's Facebook would be quite entertaining. She would have a lot of friends and realtions and try and hook up different people who she would see as an obvious match, in very subtle ways. She would probably be intensely interested in the Facebook Instant Messenger application and be looking at other people's Facebooks while gossipping with one of her friends about a social situation, who should marry whom, other woman, and so on. She would probably put up pictures of all the parties and outings she had gone on where she had determined the best matches for every person. Here is an example of what it might look like:

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Name: Emma Woodhouse

Location: England
Hobbies: Matchmaking

This is me Emma Woodhouse.

This is a good example of gossiping in the novel of Emma. Whether she is talking to her fahter, Mr. Knightly or a number of other ladies she is always trying to get someone happily married. Here is an example of an amiable bachelor whom Emma would be more than happy to set someone up with.

Another example of a nice looking young man. Here is a whole group of guys that Emma would no doubt pair up with some of her lonlier women friends.

This exemplifies the idea of everyone gossipping about someone else.

I would not be surprized to find on Emma's page a map or chart showing all the matches she has made of happy couples that with her brilliance she paired up together. It would probably be complete with mini stories about how they met, and about how happy they are since Emma introduced them.

The film version vs. the book on the Character of Fanny Price

When I read the book of Mansfield Park the character of Fanny seemed to me to be a sort of fragile, sweet-tempered sort of girl but anxious about a lot of things. You would feel sympathetic towards her as she had a lot of hard experiences in her early life (being treated differently in a bad way and always being put down in some slight or treated unkindly). Then she would complain about everything and write to her brother William or talk with Edmund who were the only people in her life who comforted her and treated her with kindness.

When the movie was shown in class it was very strange. I had imagined Fanny having blonde curly/straight hair and here Fanny had dark brown hair. Even her very personality was different but not in a good way. In the book she seems shy and timid always afraid of something. In the movie she is like Elizabeth in that she is a strong woman, but here she is almost being passive aggressive in a way. When people put her down she is angered in a quiet way, but walks out of the room and cries. She seems always to want to speak her mind and get her opinions known. It seems the movie version is trying to get the readers/audience to sympathize with Fanny's situation where in the book they already care enough about Fanny to be right there with her in the story. In the movie there is a little bit of a disconnect to Fanny. In the book she is annoying at times, always complaining or crying about something or other. In the movie she is more interesting, but in an almost solemnly sad kind of way. I don't think the film accurately portrays the character of Fanny very well. It didn't capture the essence of Fanny, so I feel it is more of a loosely based on version of Mansfield Park as opposed to an adaptation.