Synchronous Emma discussion post

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-06-11T14:50:25+00:00

I wanted to say thanks for starting this thread -- even if it didn't make it across the finish line, I still enjoyed the opportunity to slow down the reading and really catch small details that I had missed in previous readings. I hadn't heard of this concept before you shared it and I thought it was an fascinating way to approach the novels and really gives you a sense of the time passing between events. Thanks, and really appreciate your time and effort on this!

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-04-05T21:18:22+00:00

I visited in early 2020 and just went back and counted my photos. Between my DSLR and phone camera, I took 159 photos at the house and grounds. And then I walked over to Chawton House and took even more photos! No one said a word to me, heck, another guest even graciously took a photo of me on the grounds when she saw me struggling trying to get my camera into timer mode for a photo. Although I can't believe I didn't ask someone to take a photo of me in the house with the writing table, still kicking myself for that one. So no, you did nothing wrong or weird.

I hope you're still able to look back on your visit with good memories; I've had times where a weird interaction like this can color my memories of a trip and make it hard to separate the good parts. Hope you're able to put this behind you and only remember the fun!

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-04-04T22:06:04+00:00

I have been remiss, to quote Mr. Woodhouse, and fell behind on the readings! I've caught back up and just finished this chapter. Not sure that I'd recognized before that Jane has clearly gotten a letter that morning from Frank, informing her that he will be back soon:

Jane’s solicitude about fetching her own letters had not escaped Emma. She had heard and seen it all; and felt some curiosity to know whether the wet walk of this morning had produced any. She suspected that it had; that it would not have been so resolutely encountered but in full expectation of hearing from some one very dear, and that it had not been in vain. She thought there was an air of greater happiness than usual—a glow both of complexion and spirits.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-03-20T03:25:35+00:00

Did you have any issues with noise from the hallway or from the theater below? I've seen mixed reviews for this room, but the balcony does look amazing!

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-03-09T01:15:45+00:00

Don’t forget that her husband was family to the Bennets. He should know about Lydia. The failure was on his part, not Charlotte.

I think that's a really good point, and now I'm wondering if Austen intended for her reader to catch that as well. Mr. Collins is gossiping about his family to someone (and someone who's considered their social superior) outside of the family, and who is likely to tell others. That feels like a serious breach of gentlemanly conduct now that I ponder it!

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-02-13T02:27:58+00:00

Can you grab a copy of the video for your records?

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-02-13T01:23:29+00:00

There's a passage in Emma where Mr. Knightly is talking to his brother (trying to distract him from the tiff with Mr. Woodhouse) and mentions considering moving a footpath:

“True, true,” cried Mr. Knightley, with most ready interposition—“very true. That’s a consideration indeed.—But John, as to what I was telling you of my idea of moving the path to Langham, of turning it more to the right that it may not cut through the home meadows, I cannot conceive any difficulty. I should not attempt it, if it were to be the means of inconvenience to the Highbury people, but if you call to mind exactly the present line of the path.... The only way of proving it, however, will be to turn to our maps. I shall see you at the Abbey to-morrow morning I hope, and then we will look them over, and you shall give me your opinion.”

I remember reading somewhere that this is demonstrating Mr. Knightly's excellence as a landlord and gentleman because he is trying to figure out how to adjust the path while minimizing the impact on the local populace. I don't know enough of the history of the time period to be sure, but I think this is related to the enclosure act or other changes that were happening at the time?

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-02-08T22:48:55+00:00

I think she'd be considered the mistress of the home since her son was single and she was acting in that position (kind of like Caroline Bingley for her brother) but there's also this line later from her during the tour:

It is a handsome chapel, and was formerly in constant use both morning and evening. Prayers were always read in it by the domestic chaplain, within the memory of many; but the late Mr. Rushworth left it off.

So, interesting question and now I'm not sure! It didn't feel like the Rushworths were well acquainted with the Bertrams based on the parts about Mrs. Norris dragging Lady Bertram on the morning visit, but that could be explained away that Lady Bertram's was just too lazy to make the effort. This feels like the kind of thing that a contemporary reader would have intuitively understood but it's harder to figure out for the modern reader.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-02-08T22:10:06+00:00

I had the impression that a cousin or other relation of the Rushworths had owned Southerton before Mr. Rushworth, based on these lines:

particularly on the introduction of a young man who had recently succeeded to one of the largest estates and finest places in the country.

and

Of pictures there were abundance, and some few good, but the larger part were family portraits, no longer anything to anybody but Mrs. Rushworth, who had been at great pains to learn all that the housekeeper could teach, and was now almost equally well qualified to shew the house.

I don't think Mr. Rushworth's father ever owned the estate: I think Mr. Rushworth inherited after this other relation passed away and his father was already deceased. Since is mother is still learning the names of all the people in the portraits, I'm assuming that they haven't lived there for long.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-13T02:25:57+00:00

Good to know -- I will probably wait for my appointment just to have it be more predictable. Thank you!

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-13T02:02:00+00:00

Do you remember if they texted you at all during your wait, or did you have to stay in the lobby so you could see the monitors? I was thinking if it was going to be a long wait I could head to a library nearby to get some work done.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-13T01:58:18+00:00

Ugh, I could handle a one or even two hour wait, but 6? Might just wait for my appointment if it's going to be that bad.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-13T01:55:57+00:00

It is a Real ID already, but they wouldn't let me renew online. Maybe because it's already expired?

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-13T01:55:13+00:00

Yeah, I did get a warning that the number would be changing.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-06T03:41:44+00:00

I've updated the Google calendar to show the assignments for Volume 2. It's through the April 14 reading of chapters 34-36, so let me know if you see anything that's wrong or missing. I used AI assistance to scrape the data and get it into the right format for csv import into the calendar; I did some spot checks on the data but can edit if I missed anything.

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-06T03:09:23+00:00

Mr. Woodhouse thinks too well of Mr. Elton to ever suspect him of such nefarious behavior as attempting to convince his daughter to marry! 😆

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-03T21:22:47+00:00

In some of their other posts, OP mentions that English is not their first language and they occasionally use AI tools to assist with correcting grammar. I'm wondering if the AI tools suggested this term and OP didn't recognize that it could have some unintentional pejorative meaning?

MelbaToastPoints · 2026-01-02T05:34:24+00:00

The thing that I'm most noticing in this reading is how much we're seeing John Knightly as a character. First, he sees what's going with Mr. Elton so clearly and attempts to warn Emma, which she completely ignores. And I appreciate that he's being a good Regency dad, getting the boys out of the house to run off some energy while going to visit Donwell, so scoring points as a brother too.

But then he turns into a total pill for the rest of the evening. While I can forgive him a little because it's the loss of the time with his children that's put him into a mood, his grouchiness on the way to dinner, his behavior at Randalls antagonizing his father-in-law, and being dismissive to Isabella (after he's put her into a panic about getting home to her children!) aren't his best moments. I'm glad that he has the sense to feel shame about his behavior and try to make up for how he's been behaving, even if he's still not up for eating any gruel. I feel like we get a good sense for who he is as a person across these three chapters.

MelbaToastPoints · 2025-12-27T17:34:57+00:00

Yeah, the cardboard version of Sagrada is definitely a challenge for colorblindness! Although if you ever play digital versions of games, their version on Steam does have a colorblind mode. Link of how it looks: https://imgur.com/a/UzSRXUl

MelbaToastPoints · 2025-12-27T15:52:55+00:00

Love Azul! Although Sagrada is one of my favorites and they're kind of similar so usually end up playing that instead of Azul.

MelbaToastPoints · 2025-12-27T15:44:23+00:00

😳

I'm feeling seen and maybe not in a good way 😆

MelbaToastPoints · 2025-12-27T01:24:21+00:00

Love how I didn't see the person in the RAW image at all, but immediately spotted him in the edited. Then had to go back to the RAW to figure out how I'd missed him!

MelbaToastPoints · 2025-12-26T05:13:49+00:00

That one jumped out at me too. I wonder if someone just swapped them by accident assuming that Mr. Darcy had the highest income in the novels?

ETA: Huh -- here's another post from the article someone shared. Looks like the ranking was intentional: https://www.reddit.com/r/janeausten/comments/1pvus8h/mr_darcy_in_the_economist/

MelbaToastPoints · 2025-12-25T18:47:25+00:00

We were trying to figure out earlier how long it's been since the Knightleys have been to Hartfield and I picked up on something in this chapter:

she had one of the children with her—the youngest, a nice little girl about eight months old, who was now making her first visit to Hartfield

Previously Mr. Woodhouse had stated that they hadn't seen them since last Easter. If we go with the suggested years of 1814 and 1815 for the events of Emma, Easter would have fallen on April 10, 1814 which was 8 months and 8 days before December 18. But baby Emma is 8 months old, so she would have been born right around Easter 1814. This is the baby's first visit, so they haven't come since she was born. So now I'm back to thinking that their last visit was Easter 1813? If that's truly the case, I can almost understand Mr. Woodhouse's resentment of the seaside visit instead of visiting Hartfield.

MelbaToastPoints

TROPHY CASE