Emily of Emerald hill Analysis

Hi again everyone, let me continue about Emily of Emerald hill. Lets talk about:
Harsh Childhood(EMILY)
· Callous relatives: “One day the auntie I was living with called me and said to me, ‘On Friday you are going to be married.’… And that Friday I was married!”
· ‘We took you out of the gutter, when your mother threw you away.”

· An abandoned child:
· “I was an orphan from a poor family” –Page 9
· “She threw me away when I was small; she went a bit crazy when my father took a sing-song girl as his second wife.” –Page 10
· “My mother couldn’t be bothered when my father died. I left school and I stayed with one relative or another.” –Page 10
· “When my father died, my mother went away and left me behind. I remember I was in her room and she came in, started packing up her clothes.” –Page 44
· ’Why am I so unlucky, I don’t have a son to take care of me? I only have a useless girl like you.” –Page 44
· “I lived with one relative or another, doing house-work and kitchen work.” –Page 44

How her childhood shaped her views:
· Because of the uninvolved parents that she had during her childhood, she was molded into a power hungry woman who will even go to the extreme to get what she wants.
· Emily wanted to prove that she was significant and went on a quest for affirmation, emotional security and a coherent sense of identity and love.
· Low tolerance and very demanding
· High expectations, little emotional warmth towards Richard
· Domineering and conniving
· She learnt from her childhood that a girl has no power and no value in a house except of that which a man gives her. In order to gain power and not be a “useless girl”, she needs to cause other people to rely and depend on her. She would need to “wrap them, bind them in the web of providing”- Page 45.
· Did things for family not out of love but for the need to have self-worth, control and to be powerful so that her life can be meaningful.
· “reassured that her life has some significance, that no one is going to throw her back into the gutter.” Page 45
With this important background of hers, you now know why she craves so much for respect, love and family...