Emma knew she was being untruthful and adulterous to her husband, but she never acknowledged or understood that she was dishonest with herself. Emma never held an inner dialog or indulged in any self-reflection other than that of thinking of ways to satisfy her carnal longings. All of Emma's thoughts were turned toward sensual satisfaction instead of self- reflection. Emma never acknowledged her lack of maternal feelings for her daughter, Berthe. Berthe was only a peripheral character in Emma's life–-she very seldom even thought of the child. Emma never acknowledged what she was doing when she kept borrowing money from Monsieur Lheureux, the proprietor of the local dry-goods store, and Emma never once thought about what would happen to Justin if it were found he had allowed her to take the arsenic which killed her. Emma was never honest enough with herself to acknowledge that she never thought about anyone or anything except her own passionate longings. Emma's lack of self-reflection caused her to react in an animal-like manner to life: she lived by a gut reaction to her longings, satisfying them in whatever dishonest way she could, never stopping to consider the consequences of her actions. The tragedy of her actions is that Emma, if she had had any self-reflection, if she had once tried to think things out, if she had once tried to really communicate with her husband on a level other than frustration with his unperceptive personality, if she had ever been honest with herself or had conceded that her whole life was based on pleasing herself and abusing everyone else in her life, if she had just once, thought of anyone other than herself–-Emma would have had a chance at redemption, a chance to mature, a chance to become the wife that Charles thought he had married.

             Another tragedy in Emma's relationship with herself was her lack of imagination or empathy. Emma could not imagine how other people felt about life and could not conceive of the notion of "walking a mile in someone's mocassins.