Kaila Eve Haines's Blog
October 28, 2024
On Jane Austen's The Watsons
In 2023, as I was strolling around an airport waiting for the announcement of my flight, I came across a bookshop. There, I found a paperback containing the incomplete novels of Jane Austen, including Sanditon, Lady Susan, and The Watsons. Needless to say, I bought the book. I have always been an admirer of Jane Austen’s work and have read her novels numerous times.
I skimmed through Sanditon. There was nothing in the pages that spoke out to me. Lady Susan was slightly more intriguing. A much more cynical version of Miss Austen which caught me by surprise. But my eureka moment came while reading The Watsons.
Suddenly, Emma Watson’s life appeared to me in full technicolor, from early infancy until death. I could see each minute detail. But the thing that astonished me was that in my mind Emma Watson was mixed ethnicity. And with that vision firmly implanted in my mind, the story which emerged delicately examined the question of racism, or at least hinted that there was a problem.
What led me to this conclusion? A few well-placed words.
Here is one of the texts that stuck in my mind.
“The change in her home society, and style of life in consequence of the death of one friend and the imprudence of another had indeed been striking. From being the first object of hope and solicitude of an uncle who had formed her mind with the care of a parent, and of the tenderness to an aunt whose amiable temper had delighted to give her every indulgence, from being the life and spirit of a house, where all had been comfort and elegance, and the expected heiress of an easy independence, she was Become of importance to no one, a burden on those, whose affection she could not expect, an addition in a house already overstocked, surrounded by inferior minds with little chance of domestic comfort, and as little hope of future support.”
Jane Austen, The Watsons
Given the social mores of her time, in the context of her uncle’s home described above, Emma would NOT have exposed herself to the sun. Dark skin was frowned upon as Caroline Bingley’s disparaging remark about the color of Elizabeth’s skin after a summer in the sun clearly demonstrates.
However, at the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Emma as the neighborhood sees her for the first time.
“Her skin was very brown, but clear, smooth, and glowing –“
Jane Austen, The Watsons
Word choice for an author is extremely important. We slave over each, and every word, asking ourselves is this what we really want to say? In this short text two words jumped out at me: skin and very
Brown is not a new word for Miss Austen but in other texts it is always qualified by an explanation. One is brown from her time in the sun, for example. Or has a brown complexion. But Miss Austen chose the word skin. And that had a profound effect on me.
Skin is not the same thing as complexion. A complexion is mutable. A fair person exposed to the sun becomes darker, an ill person might take on a sickly or jaundiced hue. Skin is the outer layer of our body, and we are born into it.
I was also struck by the use of the adverb very. An adverb is used to emphasize the adjective. It means “To a high degree” Emma’s skin was not just brown. It was very brown. In other words, a much deeper shade than one that could be induced by time in the sun. And, as we have already established, Miss Emma Watson would not have gone out in the sun.
But perhaps the most striking paragraph of all for me was the following one:
Many were the eyes, and various the degrees of approbation with which she was examined. Some saw no fault, and some no beauty. With some her brown skin was the annihilation of every grace, and others could never be persuaded that she were half so handsome as Elizabeth Watson had been ten years ago. Jane Austen, The Watsons
This passage triggered the completion of Emma’s story at the back of my mind. Again, it is a question of word choice. The word annihilation. I could not get it out of my head. From this point in the story, everything I read wrapped itself around the image I now had of Emma being mixed-race.
Miss Austen could have chosen another word. For example: antithesis, annulment, … (and we are only on the a’s). Annihilation has a connotation of extreme hostility that had shook me to my core. I would use the word annihilation in a sentence such as: Hiroshima was annihilated by the atomic bomb.
It’s a very powerful word.
There may be several of you who are now questioning my sanity, or saying to yourself, what a weak premise. After all, she was struck by three little words. And to you I say, we are impacted by little words every day. We have all been taught that words such as “thank you”, “please”, You’re Welcome” can make a person’s day. And then of course there are three little words which contain a universe of emotions, hopes, dreams, and even a lifetime of expectations. They are “I love you.”
For now, I rest my case.
I skimmed through Sanditon. There was nothing in the pages that spoke out to me. Lady Susan was slightly more intriguing. A much more cynical version of Miss Austen which caught me by surprise. But my eureka moment came while reading The Watsons.
Suddenly, Emma Watson’s life appeared to me in full technicolor, from early infancy until death. I could see each minute detail. But the thing that astonished me was that in my mind Emma Watson was mixed ethnicity. And with that vision firmly implanted in my mind, the story which emerged delicately examined the question of racism, or at least hinted that there was a problem.
What led me to this conclusion? A few well-placed words.
Here is one of the texts that stuck in my mind.
“The change in her home society, and style of life in consequence of the death of one friend and the imprudence of another had indeed been striking. From being the first object of hope and solicitude of an uncle who had formed her mind with the care of a parent, and of the tenderness to an aunt whose amiable temper had delighted to give her every indulgence, from being the life and spirit of a house, where all had been comfort and elegance, and the expected heiress of an easy independence, she was Become of importance to no one, a burden on those, whose affection she could not expect, an addition in a house already overstocked, surrounded by inferior minds with little chance of domestic comfort, and as little hope of future support.”
Jane Austen, The Watsons
Given the social mores of her time, in the context of her uncle’s home described above, Emma would NOT have exposed herself to the sun. Dark skin was frowned upon as Caroline Bingley’s disparaging remark about the color of Elizabeth’s skin after a summer in the sun clearly demonstrates.
However, at the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Emma as the neighborhood sees her for the first time.
“Her skin was very brown, but clear, smooth, and glowing –“
Jane Austen, The Watsons
Word choice for an author is extremely important. We slave over each, and every word, asking ourselves is this what we really want to say? In this short text two words jumped out at me: skin and very
Brown is not a new word for Miss Austen but in other texts it is always qualified by an explanation. One is brown from her time in the sun, for example. Or has a brown complexion. But Miss Austen chose the word skin. And that had a profound effect on me.
Skin is not the same thing as complexion. A complexion is mutable. A fair person exposed to the sun becomes darker, an ill person might take on a sickly or jaundiced hue. Skin is the outer layer of our body, and we are born into it.
I was also struck by the use of the adverb very. An adverb is used to emphasize the adjective. It means “To a high degree” Emma’s skin was not just brown. It was very brown. In other words, a much deeper shade than one that could be induced by time in the sun. And, as we have already established, Miss Emma Watson would not have gone out in the sun.
But perhaps the most striking paragraph of all for me was the following one:
Many were the eyes, and various the degrees of approbation with which she was examined. Some saw no fault, and some no beauty. With some her brown skin was the annihilation of every grace, and others could never be persuaded that she were half so handsome as Elizabeth Watson had been ten years ago. Jane Austen, The Watsons
This passage triggered the completion of Emma’s story at the back of my mind. Again, it is a question of word choice. The word annihilation. I could not get it out of my head. From this point in the story, everything I read wrapped itself around the image I now had of Emma being mixed-race.
Miss Austen could have chosen another word. For example: antithesis, annulment, … (and we are only on the a’s). Annihilation has a connotation of extreme hostility that had shook me to my core. I would use the word annihilation in a sentence such as: Hiroshima was annihilated by the atomic bomb.
It’s a very powerful word.
There may be several of you who are now questioning my sanity, or saying to yourself, what a weak premise. After all, she was struck by three little words. And to you I say, we are impacted by little words every day. We have all been taught that words such as “thank you”, “please”, You’re Welcome” can make a person’s day. And then of course there are three little words which contain a universe of emotions, hopes, dreams, and even a lifetime of expectations. They are “I love you.”
For now, I rest my case.
