 Wiltshire noted that Jane Fairfax cannot walk to the post office in the rain to pick up the mail without becoming the object of town gossip while Mr. Knightley can ride all the way to London without attracting any gossip.Wiltshire described the world that the women of Highbury live in as a sort of prison, writing that in the novel "...women's imprisonment is associated with deprivation, with energies and powers perverted in their application, and events, balls and outings are linked with the arousal and satisfaction of desire".Emma unlike other heroines in Jane Austen's novels is a wealthy young lady having a personal fortune amounting to £30,000.