Matthrew Peeler

When I first read the excerpt from Jane Austin’s book Emma I can honestly say that I was curious as to why we were reading this piece considering that the class was humor-based. This text would typically fall into the category of boring in my eyes, as I was not able to vision the situation. However, when we watched the clip from the movie, I was able to relate to the situation much more and laugh at it. After seeing what went on in the situation, I was able to laugh at the comments made by Emma towards Ms. Bates. Regardless of the fact that the comments made by Emma were rude and disrespectful, they were made in a sarcastic manner that made it comical to the viewer. I personally thought the situation stayed funny until the point where Emma received a lashing of words for what she said.
Immanuel Kant said, “Laughter is the eruption that arises from a strained expectation suddenly reduced to nothing.” This quote explains my reaction to Emma just about as well as one can. As I explained earlier, I was not particularly fond of the reading. As the explanation took place during class and we watched the film I was able to appreciate the comedy inside of it. My “expectations” of our class discussion were “strained” due to the fact that didn’t feel like I understood the reading very well. After we discussed the reading and watched the video, I “erupted” with laughter since I was finally able to understand. As I read this quote, it struck me as if I had dealt with that particular experience before, which I had. When I began to dissect the quote to explain how I related to it, I realized that these three words were a very clear description of my experience with Emma. I had “expectations” about the discussion that were “strained” simply because I didn’t understand but in the end I “erupted” with laughter and enjoyed both the movie and the book Emma.