Alana-k-asby - Unforceful

Mrs. Weston’s Baby is IMPORTANT

I am not a big fan of Paltrow Emma, for a lot of reasons but the main one is that they basically leave out Anna Weston, Mr. and Mrs. Weston’s daughter. They only show the baby in a picture at the end that you might well miss. This is a problem because Anna Weston is so important to Mrs. Weston’s character.

Jane Fairfax compares being a governess to slavery, which might be going a lot too far, but it was not a desirable thing to do in the 1800s. Governesses were considered lower than the gentry, they were not really servants nor a part of a family. They were susceptible to abuse and mistreatment. It was not a good option and only those forced to take it did. Mrs. Weston is probably an orphan like Jane Fairfax and had no other choice. But poor Miss Taylor struck gold with the Woodhouses.

Emma treats Mrs. Weston like an equal, not like someone below her, and Miss Taylor is actually able to marry a good man in Mr. Weston. She has the best possible outcome. But one thing is missing, a respectable woman has children. A governess must raise children that are not hers, but a wife is honoured by her ability to have kids and to raise them properly (not modern, but these are the times JA is living in).

Mrs. Weston’s baby isn’t just a way to tell that a year is over, it is the completion of her salvation. Jane Austen “saves” both governesses in Emma, Jane is saved from ever having to become on, Mrs. Weston is saved by a loving family, a marriage, and a baby. Instead of raising the children of others, she has her own daughter to love. Instead of the careless Frank Churchill as a stepson, she has a daughter who will not leave her. Mrs. Weston’s baby makes her a fully respectable woman and wife.

This is actually the greatest good deed that Emma does. If Emma had not valued Miss Taylor so much, she would have been long gone and in another household before Mr. Weston had the money to propose. So please don’t forget about the miracle of little Anne Weston.

Evening dress by Lucie Monnay, 1902-03

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A lot of people on here need to read this.

"The Secularists alone outnumber, by almost three to one, the 10 percent or so who have been labeled white Christian nationalists. And they overwhelmingly vote for Democrats."

First Things

The Myth of White Christian Nationalism | Kenneth L. Woodward

In his first speech as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson sounded like a . . . .

@lightthewaybackhome Remind you of someone we know?