Nikki Giovanni once expressed that "mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts." Emma Woodhouse, the title character of Jane Austen's Emma, emotionally blossoms by learning from her mistakes. At age twenty-one, Emma has lived a life of very little vexation and because of her high status in society; she has been raised to think very highly of everything about herself including overestimating her cleverness. Emma creates many blind follies that along with damaging her friend's heart, leaves Emm2a vulnerable to new revelations about herself. On this bumpy path Emma changes her opinion of herself.

At the age of twenty-one, Emma enjoys a life of privilege that indulges her clever nature and compliments her every endeavor. "One matter of joy to" Emma is using her cleverness to find "match[es]" for people. This talent, so recently discovered, becomes the item of...