Emma

SUMMARY
This short story is told from the first person perspective of a little girl called Dorian
York. The focus of her thoughts is her mother; the games that they play together,
and the games that she plays with her friend, that revolve around her mother. The
first person perspective of the narrative gives the reader an intimate view of how the
little girl sees her mother, as well as how she feels about her. We are also able to
garner information about the people around her from her innocent narrative, innocent
because the little girl does not understand many of the things that she reports. The
audience learns that Emma and Mr. York have a volatile relationship that is
seemingly caused by his infidelity. This infidelity is initially implied by Emma’s
constant watching of the clock and waiting for her husband to return home, as well
as the fight that Dorian reported. Grandfather’s visit brings a happy atmosphere to
the family unit because daddy starts to do things with the family, and they seem
more like a conventional happy family. The audience is given the impression that
things go back to normal after grandfather leaves, however, due to the spectral
presence of the ‘lady at the train station’, as well as Mrs. Robinson’s pointed
discussion about Mr. York’s status as a ‘player’. The narrative climaxes with the
death of Emma at the train station. She saw her husband with the mysterious lady
and runs away, followed closely by Dorian and Jack. Unfortunately, when Jack
caught her by the arm, she ran into the path of an oncoming vehicle and was killed.
Jack and Mrs. Robinson then get romantically involved, and they send both Maria
and Dorian to St. Agnus, a boarding school, in the country.

SETTING
• The story occurs in three places; the York residence, an unnamed mall and the old
train station.
• The mood of the story fluctuates from happiness to sadness.
CHARACTERS
Jack York (Daddy)
• He is Doran’s father and Emma’s husband.
• He is characterized as a ‘player’ by Mrs. Robinson.
• He is not faithful to his wife.
• He was not ready for the arrival of his daughter, Dorian, and does not seem to have
a close relationship with her.

Emma York
• She is Dorian’s mother and Jack’s wife.
• She is a good mother who plays with her child and treats her well.
• She is a good wife who loves her husband (as seen in how she greets him when he
gets home) and is considerate of his feelings; as seen in her reasons for not having
another baby.
• She is a very smart and polished lady who can handle herself with people who are
coy and critical of her; as seen in her argument with Mrs. Robinson in the mall.

Dorian York
• A very innocent little girl who is the first person narrator of the story.
• She is younger than her friend Maria, who is nine (9) years old.
• She adores her mother and her grandfather.
• She is often puzzled by the content of adult discussion.

Grandaddy
• Emma’s father.
• Brought joy into the family because daddy stayed home, came home early, and
spent quality time with the family, due to grandaddy's implied interference.
• Loved her grandfather because he seemed to do what her dad didn’t – spent time
with her – and her first person perspective of him reflected her love.

Ruby Robinson
• She is Emma’s friend and Maria’s mother.
• She is not a good friend to Emma because she is both critical and jealous of her.
• She gets romantically involved with Jack after Emma dies.
• She’s very impatient with both girls.
• She sends Maria and Dorian to boarding school in order to enact her plan to keep
the ‘player’.

Maria Robinson
• She is the nine (9) year old daughter of Ruby Robinson.
• She is Dorian’s playmate.
• She filters and explains a lot of the adult conversations that Dorian does not
understand.

THEMES
Innocence
This theme is epitomized by Dorian York. The story is told from her perspective,
therefore, the reader gets a firsthand view of the innocence behind her
misunderstanding of adult conversation and situations. She senses emotions, but
misses a lot of the innuendo, as is seen when she tells the audience about the fight
that her parents had. Her innocence is also seen in her expectation that her mother
would come home after the accident, but instead, she finds Mrs. Robinson in her mot
her’s bed. Her growth, or advancement into maturity, is highlighted in the end of the
short story when Dorian reassures Maria that everything will be ok, they will play
adult games better.

Love and family relationship

There are two types of families in this short story, the nuclear family and the single
family unit. Dorian’s family is the nuclear family, consisting of mother, father and
child. This family is a troubled one because the father is seemingly more absent than
present due to an implied ‘other woman’, who is later confirmed as very real. He also
seems uncomfortable around his only child, as is confirmed by Emma, who decides
to forgoes having another child because ‘Jack wasn’t ready for Dori’ (Cole, p.53).
Emma, on the other hand, seems to live to please both her child and husband. She
is very affectionate with Dorian, and this love is returned ten fold, as seen in the
adoration that imbues the tone of the narrator. She is the same with her husband,
but the reception is less enthusiastic. It would be unfair to say that the family is
dysfunctional, because one parent is at least invested in the emotional happiness of
the child, but the family has issues because the head of the household’s
concentration lies elsewhere.

Mrs. Robinson is a single mother, parenting her only child; Maria. She does not
appear to be particularly liked by both girls because no-one wants to ‘play’ at being
her. She aggravates her child constantly and appears to be unhappy with her life.
This family structure can be seen as dysfunctional because the parent does not
seem to devote her energies toward making her child feel loved and comfortable,
which is one of the primary aims of any family structure.

Friendship
There are two contrasting friendships in this short story. There is the friendship
between Dorian and Maria, which is characterized by play, conversations and
support of each other. Then there is the friendship between the adults, Emma and
Mrs. Robinson, which is contrastingly characterized by cattiness and jealousy;
mostly on Mrs. Robinson’s part.

MOTIF
Play
The motif of play appears to be a strong one in this short story, perhaps due to the
fact that the narrator is a young child. The children ‘play’ at being adults, immitating –
and fighting over – their favourite adult. They also literally see the life of adults as
play. Dorian confirms this at the end of the story when she reassures Maria that ‘I
learned a lot about this game. When it’s our turn to play, we’ll play smarter.’ (Cole,
p.58).

SYMBOL
Deck of cards

The deck of cards that Emma carries around in her purse is a powerful symbol for
life. In any card game that is being played, every-one has a chance at success, or
failure, depending on how they play the game. Mrs. Robinson gives Emma an
alternate way to play the game of life, with success being the joy of keeping her
‘player’ husband. Emma, however, chooses to play the game in an another way, one
in which she attempts to satisfy the needs of both Dorian and Jack. Emma is the
loser in the game, however, because she dies with the joker in her hand. This
signifies that her future could have gone in any direction because the joker
introduces the element of chance to the game; it can be a bonus, a penalty, or both,
depending on how it is used in the game. In the game of life, Emma lost because
she chose to take a chance with pleasing both members of her family, instead of
concentrating soley on her husband, as Mrs. Robinson suggested. The game of life
gives every-one chances however, just like a card game, and Mrs. Robinson was
given a chance to bag her rich man with Emma’s exit from the game.

Emma
Author

Carolyn Cole

Setting

The setting of the story Emma is the York residence, an unnamed mall and the old
train station.

Mood

The mood of the story goes from happiness to sadness.

Style

A flashback. Narrated by a young girl.

Point of View

First person perspective of a young girl.

Themes
Friendship
Two different friendships in this story.There is the friendship between Dorian and
Maria, which is distinguished by play, conversations and support of each other. The
friendship between Emma and Mrs. Robinson, which is distinguished by jealousy
from Mrs Robinson.

Innocence
Having the story being told from Dorian's point of view , it gives the reader a good
understanding of her innocence, behind not understand adult conversation and
situations. She knows that her parents are not happy but she doesn't understand the
reason why. We know that because of the incident of her parents fighting.Her
innocence is also displayed when she thinks that her mother would come home after
the accident but instead, she finds Mrs. Robinson in her mother’s bed.

Love and Family Relationship

Literary Devices

Visual Imagery
The author uses visual imagery to describe the personalities of both Ruby and
Emma.
"Emma's black hair and Mrs Robinson's red hair looked pretty." (page 52, paragraph
3).Ruby's red hair compared to Emma's black hair is a metaphor to say that she is
not a very nice woman. The author also describes that Ruby is much older than
Emma.

Symbol
The deck of cards that Emma had in the story is a symbol of the game of life. The
deck of cards in a symbol that is seen constantly throughout the short story.

Important Lines

"Maria told me that she was afraid that we would die just like Emma. But I told Maria
that we wouldn't because I learned a lot about this game. When it's our turn to
play,we'll play smarter." (page 58, first paragraph)

"Then she said, 'I think we should drink to minority business loans and women who
work hard to make men's dreams come true. Or better yet,' she sad,'let's drink to
ambitious women who bleed men dry." (page 54,paragraph 1)

Summary

The short story Emma is about two young girls ( Maria and Dorian) who aspire to
become just like one of the main characters (Emma) when they're grown up. They
both fascinate on doing things and wearing clothes just like Emma. Maria knows that
Dorian's (Dory) dad is not faithful to Emma and Dorian encourages her to tell Emma,
but she never does. Maria explains to Dorian that it's just a game grown ups play
and they need to play it the right way in order to win. Bases the situation on a game
of card. After Dory's grandad leaves from his Summer vacation, her dad starts to
come home early from work and starts to spend time with the family; Dorian thinks
that the 'game' he was playing with the lady at the train station was done.

Emma, Maria, Dory and Mrs Robinson all go to the mall. Dory and Maria go roller
skating after wards at the train station which Emma resented. While skating Dory
and Maria both spot the lady at the train station and she seems very uneasy, they
see her Dad approaching her and then they both start acting romantic. Emma comes
to the station with Mrs Robinson to pick them both up and Mrs Robinson shows
Emma the lady at the station and her husband. Emma runs away while Dory and her
dad chase after her. Dory and Emma end up getting hit by a car and Emma dies. In
the end Mrs Robinson sends both Maria and Dory to boarding school and Dory's dad
does nothing to stop her. While in the train they both see Mrs Robinson kissing
Dory's dad.