They are ignored by the characters, not by Jane Austen. Harriet actually lives in a school, but she is portrayed as intellectually inferior to almost every other character. Mr. Knightley says, "But I'm done expecting regular reading from Emma," yet Emma is described as one of the book's smartest characters. This contrast is of course due to the fact that book intelligence is not the type of intelligence valued in Hartfield. Jane Austen emphasizes how upper class people prefer wit to education by including an entire chapter on Emma and Harriet's decision to make a book of charades rather than read books (57-69) . The puzzles are fun and intellectually stimulating, but they have nothing to do with the type of education one would get at a grade level.