Emily Of New Moon

This chapter is another series of letters from Emily to her father, effectively summarizing the events of 10 days in December. She tells him that her kitten Mike died, and she and Ilse buried him in Lofty John’s bush. When she tells Aunt Laura that they prayed over him, she is mortified because Aunt Elizabeth wouldn’t like her praying for an animal, which ostensibly has no soul. Cousin Jimmy argues that an innocent thing that Emily loved so much must surely also be loved by God. Laura concedes but tells them not to let Elizabeth hear them say things like that.

In the next letter, Emily tells her father that a snowstorm is coming and that she was invited to a friend’s birthday party the previous weekend. She wore a new dress and rubbed a red velvet flower on her cheeks to give them some color. The girls at the party stared and laughed at her, and she forgot to wipe it off before she got home. Elizabeth scolded her for being vain and cheapening herself, but Emily heard her laughing about it with Laura later. She does not understand what was so funny; she thinks it was funnier when Saucy Sal followed her to church and started yowling from the balcony while Mr. Dare was preaching.

She gives her father more short updates, such as how Ilse is now praying regularly, Elder McKay has the mumps, one of her neighbors believes the world is ending soon, and the pig she named after Lofty John has died.

In a letter after Christmas, Emily recaps the holiday celebration her aunts hosted for the Murray family. Emily saw the aunts and uncles whom she first met after her father’s death. Some observed that she had grown and looked healthier, but Aunt Ruth and Uncle Wallace called her awkward and ill-mannered. Emily was surprised when Aunt Elizabeth spoke up and told them to leave her alone. Emily reflects that she now feels like she’s a part of the Murray family. When she and Laura stand outside to watch everyone leave, Laura tells her that she used to do the same thing with Emily’s mother.

Emily and Ilse play with Teddy on the frozen Blair Water that winter. Teddy remarks to Emily about how pretty Ilse is, and Emily does not like the way Teddy said it or the way he looks at Ilse. Emily feels that she would be so much prettier if Aunt Elizabeth would let her cut bangs in her hair, but Aunt Elizabeth has been refusing this request for a long time. After Teddy’s comment, though, Emily is desperate to have bangs and decides to cut them herself. She does so and immediately regrets it. Then, she cuts the bangs even shorter, all the way to her scalp, to make it look like they’re not there, but this looks even worse.

She is so ashamed that she gets in bed and pretends to be asleep before Elizabeth can see what she has done, but she can’t fall asleep and eventually tells her what happened. Her punishment is that she will eat dinner in the pantry by herself for a week and not be permitted to visit a relative with Aunt Elizabeth because she looks so ridiculous.

Emily takes the opportunity to make another confession to her aunt: She says that she borrowed a book from Dr. Burnley with a title that sounded like a history book, but it was really a novel, which she wasn’t allowed to read. She assures Elizabeth that there aren’t any more novels left for her to read at the Burnley’s; she is currently reading an anatomy book, which Aunt Elizabeth considers even worse.

Eventually, Emily’s hair grows out, and it looks a little better. Her great-aunt Nancy writes and asks for a photo of Emily. Laura and Elizabeth take her to Shrewsbury to have her photograph taken, but Emily doesn’t like the way Elizabeth did her hair, with her bangs pinned back. Before sending the photo to Nancy, Emily takes it out and replaces it with a drawing that Teddy did of her, along with a note saying she is only lending the picture to her and that she is not as stupid as Nancy thinks.

On her way back from mailing the drawing, Emily meets an old woman who introduces herself as Perry Miller’s Aunt Tom. Emily has never met her before and is surprised when Aunt Tom propositions her with the deal that if she promises to marry Perry when they are older, she will pay for him to get an education. This upsets Emily and when she tells Perry, he is angry at his aunt but does admit that he will probably ask her to marry him when they are adults. He tells her that Teddy will probably propose to her, too, but he’ll beat him up if she says yes to him. Emily is overwhelmed by this attention and discussion of marriage and decides that the whole thing is “romantic but not comfortable” (230).

Emily’s Great Aunt Nancy wants Emily to come visit her at Wyther Grange, so Aunt Laura and Aunt Elizabeth decide she will go. Emily is sorry to miss cheese-making at New Moon and putting on A Midsummer Night’s Dream with her friends, but she is very curious about this old woman whom her aunts have told her about.

Mr. Kelly takes Emily to Wyther Grange, and on the way, he keeps asking Emily whether she has a beau. This upsets her; she is not ready to think about boys in that way. He tells her how to make a “love charm” (235) out of toads and gives her a hairbrush with a small mirror on the back of it. He also warns her that Caroline, the old woman who lives with Great Aunt Nancy, is a witch and gives her a piece of horseshoe nail because iron will ward off witches.

When they finally arrive at Wyther Grange, Caroline comes out to greet Emily, and Mr. Kelly leaves quickly. Emily doesn’t believe in witches but is glad to have the nail in her pocket.

Caroline brings Emily into the house to meet Great Aunt Nancy. The house is old-fashioned and has a strange layout, but Emily finds it charming. Aunt Nancy tells her that she will not be strict with her like Aunt Elizabeth is; she can do whatever she wants while she’s there. Nancy loves to talk about how beautiful she was when she was young and gives Emily advice about boys, which she does not want. Nancy and Caroline gossip about other family members, and Emily likes to listen.

That night, Emily cannot sleep because of a strange noise in her room. She is sure it is haunted and tells Aunt Nancy the next morning that she will not stay another night. Nancy realizes that she forgot to tell her about the birds in the chimney. Once Emily knows that the noise comes from birds and not from ghosts, she is able to sleep the next night and decides that she will stay at Wyther Grange for a while after all.

This chapter is a series of letters that Emily writes to her father while staying at Wyther Grange. She enjoys her freedom there, even though she misses her family and friends at New Moon. She tells him about the interesting and valuable antiques around the house and how she likes to listen to Nancy and Caroline gossip because they don’t stop talking at the interesting parts like Laura and Elizabeth do. The Priest women, both in their eighties, do not go to church on Sundays, and Emily likes to stay home with them instead.

Emily tells her father that she accidentally broke one of Aunt Nancy’s antique glasses and was afraid to tell her. When she finally did, Nancy didn’t actually care at all. Nancy has little regard for tradition and never liked the glass anyway—she thinks it will be funny to see the looks on her relatives’ faces when they realize no one will get the glass when she dies.

In her final letter, Emily tells her father that she has finally heard the story about Ilse’s mother, and she is so upset that she can’t tell him the details.