Reconstructing Emma.

I finished reading Emma Brown by Clare Boylan a few days ago and I’ve been trying to unearth some of its mysteries, if it should have any. I am actually finding it hard to say much about it at present. I feel like the book was neither profound nor easily dismissible. It felt mediocre, although I am not sure if this was crafted for this end.

I must, however, applaud Clare Boylan for taking on such an ambitious project that involved trying to complete Charlotte Bronte’s unfinished fragment Emma. The book has sufficient evidence regarding the amount of research she must have done in order to write it. She has reviewed almost all of Charlotte’s novels, as well as studied biographies on the Brontës. I think, however, that the book would have worked better if she had written her story removed from that of Charlotte’s, if she had not intended to complete Charlotte’s tale. Let’s face it, Boylan is not Bronte, and never will be, though she’s quite a decent writer. When readers read her book, they cannot help but compare her work to Charlotte Bronte’s, and then they detect the deficiencies, which evolve into a feeling bordering on annoyance that turns into nonchalance. As I read her novel, I kept expecting Charlotte’s witty prose, mixed with the right amount of snark and sympathy. I suppose the mystery aspect is fulfilled by the Emma’s past, though not in the manner found in Charlotte’s novels. Emma’s mystery does not affect any of the characters in the way that the laugh in Thornfield affects Jane or the presence of the Nun affects Lucy. Also, Boylan spends too much time in having things “happen” rather than adequately developing the characters or delving into intricacies within the plot itself. In short, her work lacks complex writing, for she is too busy with actions than symbols.

I think the biggest difference in Boylan’s work, compared to Charlotte’s, is lack of the allusion to the Imagination. All of Charlotte’s works contains some reference to the Imagination, some puzzle that teases the readers. For example, it manifests as Bertha in Jane Eyre, as the Nun in Villette, as Shirley Keeldar’s devoir in Shirley, and last but not least, as Francis’ exercises in The Professor. Each of Charlotte’s most studied works, namely Jane Eyre and Villette, contain strong sense of mystery tied to women’s freedom, and Charlotte’s tactic lies in her subtlety of expression. In her world, the troubles seethed closer to home, one didn’t need to turn to the streets of London in order to see the deprecation. Emma Brown, while expanding on social concerns, does not convey this sense of subtlety in the same manner.

There is the mystery that is Emma’s past, but I found it difficult to discern whether this is directly linked to any of the characters’ own struggles. Mrs. Chalfont seems to have had a peaceful childhood, despite her poverty (in the style of Agnes Grey) and has a Jane Eyre-like romance, only to be disappointed. Unlike Jane and Lucy, however, Isabelle seems to give in too much, which reminds me of Anne Bronte’s heroines more than any of Charlotte’s. Also, things seem to happen much more abruptly for Mrs. Chalfont: she takes in a homeless waif, and puts up with sour-tempered headmistresses in a heroic fashion, except we are not sure of why exactly she is doing all this. In short, I didn’t sense any passionate outburst in her. As for Emma, she is presented more as a harmless victim than as an active participant. Although she is given quite a few witty lines, Emma reminds me more of the likes of The Little Princess than any Jane Eyre. It is significant to note that Ms. Boylan wrote about different classes of people,and her portrayal of the social divide was too conspicuous. There’s Mrs. Chalfont, the placid middle class woman, there are the Misses Wilcox, the bitter old-maids, there’s poor little Emma, the victim of the ills of society, and the list can go on. The trouble is, this would have worked in a Brontean setting, like I have mentioned scores of times above, if we had been provided more details into the nuances of the characters. These characters seem very Dickensian than Brontean; one dimensional.

However, the social commentary is commendable. Boylan does exert considerable effort in order to bring the streets of Victorian London to life. She goes back and forth between different classes of people in order to highlight the differences between classes: we are given a glimpse into the home of a rich girl and immediately drawn to poor Emma’s travails on the streets at night. Also, while she might not express women’s frustration on a deeper level, she does manage to show the dangers that can befall a penniless young girl on the streets. She brings to awareness the inheritance law, the Poor Law, and the lack of employment opportunities open to women. In addition, she handles the subject to sexual and domestic abuse in the context of Victorian times, quite well.

The ending of Emma Brown strongly resembles that of Villette, where the reader is perpetually left in doubt. In both these novels this sense of doubt is what sustains them in the end. We are not really sure of Mrs. Chalfont’s sentiments toward her lovers and we question Lucy Snowe’s strange choice of words at the end. The power in mystery brings me to the question that is at the heart of my feelings for this novel: Should Emma Brown be written as a continuation of Charlotte’s novel, or is the latter best left alone, incomplete. We don’t know the circumstances that lead to Charlotte not writing more than the first two chapters of Emma. We don’t even know if she willingly chose to do so. We don’t know if, like in Villette, she wanted to end the fragment with mystery. She didn’t give us more insight into the character of Matilda Fitzgibbon, and for a good reason. We are left perpetually in doubt. Though Charlotte’s work is called "Emma, a fragment”, its incompleteness is perhaps, paradoxically, what makes it complete. I believe that the piece could be enjoyed in its present state, and that no completion is necessary by any other author, even if that author herself chose to end her novel in a similar manner. Though Boylan’s novel’s triumph lies in presenting a case for the plight of the poor in Victorian England, it also recognizes the tantalizing nature of leaving questions unanswered. While she attempts to imitate Charlotte Bronte, she also strays away from her purpose, for she tries to answer a question that Charlotte probably meant to be left forever mysterious.