The book “Emma” by Jane Austen is about a girl called Emma, who was from a wealthy family and lived a carefree life, realizing that not everything goes her way because of some bad decisions she made. In this process she also recognized her love for Mr. Knightly, who she ultimately married. 

Emma’s change originated with Harriet. Harriet is the daughter of “nobody” and she is of much lower social status than Emma, however Emma became good friends with her. Emma later discovered that Harriet developed feelings for Martin, who was a diligent farmer. Emma thought that this was an unsuitable match as Harriet was her friend and thus Harriet is of a higher class. After talking Harriet out of Martin, she persuaded her to be in love with Mr. Elton. Because of how Mr. Elton diligently helped with the framing of a picture of Harriet, Emma supposed that he was interested in Harriet. Mr. Elton turned out to be more interested in the painter rather than the subject of the painting. Later, Harriet expressed her love for Mr. Knightley, a fact that Emma panicked at hearing. 

One effect of this chain of events is that it changed Emma’s view of social class. Social class and status is something with a rather strict hierarchy. Although a part of it is who you hang out with, having friends of a higher class don’t put you in that class. Harriet is a great example; no matter how close she was to Emma and how much Emma tries to help her, Harriet is still of a lower class because of her birth, education, and wealth. It is also important to note that just because someone has a high social status doesn’t make their actions good, such as when Emma made a poor joke on Miss Bates. There is no denying, both to Emma and to the readers, that Harriet has a great nature, but that doesn’t offer much help to raise her status. 

Beside the understanding of social class, perhaps the most important takeaway for Emma was that she finally recognized her love for Mr. Knightley. Throughout the book, Emma has said multiple times that she has no plan to marry at all. However ,when Harriet expressed her interest in Mr.Knightley, Emma drew extremely nervously even though she knew a relationship between the two was highly unlikely. When Mr. Knightley came to Emma trying to say something, Emma even assumed that he liked Harriet. Mr. Knightley actually came to tell Emma his love for her. Emma finally recognized her true emotions toward Mr. Knightley at last. 

This is rather ironic because Emma has always pride herself in her ability to see the nuance in people’s emotions. Yet she failed to see her friend Harriet’s true love. More importantly, she failed to see her own heart. She at last saw her own shortcomings in blindingly advising others emotional life while she still struggles with her own. This also showed that no matter how determined you are, things can give way in front of true love. 

As this book is a comedy, the story ended with everyone finding the perfect match. Everyone ended up with someone of their similar social class: Emma with Mr. Kightley, Mr. Elton with Miss Hawkins, and Harriet with Martin. Perhaps with demonstrated yet again that social class is not only about wealth, but also about  ways of life and beliefs. Harriet, who is from a lower class, ultimately find herself suitable to the diligent, kind-hearted farmer, Martin. While in contrast, Mr. Elton also married Miss Hawkins who is more suitable for his way of life and status.

In conclusion, the book Emma is a book about love, but more importantly about social class. It demonstrated the fact that everyone belong to a certain class, which can't be easily altered.