Through this semester in Women and Lit, we have explored a number of texts surrounding women. For my research assignment, I am planning on digging further into the text of Emma by Jane Austen. Throughout my second reading of this novel, I kept becoming more interested in the social conventions of Emma’s society. Not only would I like to examine these social conventions, but I am curious on how Jane Austen’s Background may have possibly influenced her writing of this novel.

When digging up sources for this novel, I am going to have to find sources that reveal information about historical aspects in Emma, as well as sources that reveal to me more information about Jane Austen’s life. I have found it to be slightly difficult to learn about Austen’s life, and this could present itself as a definite challenge. If I have too much trouble finding our information about Austen, I may be able to compare social conventions in Emma to social conventions in her other novels.

I am drawn to this topic because many of the other student in this class had a strong distaste for Emma as a person. My research will hopefully show that Emma was acting in a way that was common of women in her time period. This research assignment could possibly also help me learn a lot more about Austen’s other novels. Also, I feel that this assignment is going to help me learn how to better connect history to the literature that has sprung from it.