in which the reader is continuously provoked with realistic clues and deliberate ironies. A key location like Box Hill, for example, allow us to read the novel as a social story. But the fact that Box Hill is a "real" place and Jane Austen knew it does not mean that its inclusion is a likelihood resource, but it can help to maintain the reader's credibility in storytelling. Emma contains names of real and imaginary places, but both can have metaphorical or biographical meanings. The Box Hill itself offers multiple possibilities, since its name refers not only to the verbal fight and the damage that Austen's characters suffer there, but also to the feeling of claustrophobia — of being boxed — that is evoked in such a brilliant way, while the