Wuthering Heights is the only novel Emily wrote throughout her short life.　 The book is not only of great importance in British literature but also an outstanding work in world literature.　 Emily's sister is also a talent novelist; her most famous work Jane Eyre has been a hit ever since it was published.　 Emily's younger sister Ann, though died young, wrote some books, too.　 Emily's only bother, Branwell, showed his gift of painting and writing at his early ages.　 One may guess the family, in which these four outstanding children were brought up, must be an extraordinary one.　 On the contrary, they came from a family that couldn't be simpler.
Parents

　　 Patrick Bronte, the father of Emily, was a native of Ireland.　 He was the eldest of the ten children of a peasant's fasmily.　 He was smart and diligent.　 At his early twenties he managed from humble beginnings to take a degree in Cambridge and became a clergyman of the Church of England.　 Being an Irish, he was imaginative.　 He was interested and ambitious for literature.　 He had published a few books but aroused not much attention.　 He married Mrs. Bronte, Maria Bronwell, in 1812 while he was thirty-five.　 Mrs. Bronte was an optimistic, imprudent and well-educated woman. She left behind her some unpublished articles.　 She was weak and not healthy.　　
(1) She died in 1821.　 After Mrs. Bronte's death, Ms. Branwell, the sister of Mrs. Bronte, came to watch over the family.
 
(2) Patrick Bronte was described as a self-center and a bed tempered freak.　 For instance, to prevent fires, he allowed no veils or curtains to be hung in the house; while he was depressed he would took his gun and shoot outside or cut short the legs of the chairs without any reason; sometimes he would even burn his children and wife's clothes in a desperation.　 But he was never a villain; he led a simple life and gave his children appropriate education.　　
(3) To read books in the small room is the only entertainment for the children.

The Life in Yorkshire
　
　　 The environment of Yorkshire influenced the Bronte sisters a lot.　 The village of Haworth was very isolated.　　 Yorkshire is surrounded by the moors--the tracts of rocky land, where the winds sweep mercilessly.　 It was these moors that built the spirit of the Brontes and filled their souls with love of liberty.　 The Irish are passionate, noble, unstable, eloquent, and witty, while the people in Yorkshire are blunt, practical, stubborn, sparing of speech, vigorous, and harsh.　　
(4) The inherited Irish characteristics and those of the Yorkshire deeply influenced Emily.
　　 As a matter of fact, the Bronte sisters were quite fond of the moors.　　
(5) The lofty black rocks, the purple heath, the long and flourishing grass, and the stretching hills were their comfort.　 In Yorkshire the trees were short and bended because of the unceasing strong wind.　 In winter it was freezing and snowy.　 But Yorkshire was not that bleak and sullen all the time.　 "My sister Emily loved the moors," said Charlotte Bronte. "Flowers brighter that the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her; out of sullen hollow in a livid hillside her mind could make an Eden.　 She found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best loved was--liberty."　　　 It was these moors that built the spirit of the Brontes and filled their souls with love of liberty.　 This was especially true for Emily.
Children of the Brontes
　
　　 After Mrs. Bronte's death, the little family was consisted of Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily Jane, and Anne, together with their father and their aunt.　　
(6) However the two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, contracted the illnesses from which they died in 1825.　 Charlotte was short and introversive.　 She was not pretty, yet she was clever and had her own ideas.　 She was married, and wrote many books.　 She was weak and constantly ill, but she lived longer than other Bronte children did.
　　 Patrick Branwell, younger than Charlotte, was the only boy of the Brontes.　 The Bronte sisters respected him, and his father had high expectation over him.　 He had once been a charming and gifted youth, but his deterioration, his mental and moral breakdown had been a bitter experience for all the family.　
(7) He was so frustrated that he became an alcoholic and drug addict.　 Later Branwell died at the age of thirty-one in September 1848, which was a big shock to the Brontes.
　　　 Younger than Charlotte and Branwell but older than Anne, Emily was born in 1818.　 She was the tallest among the Bronte sisters.　 At the age of six she was a few months a pupil with Charlotte at Cowan Bridge School.　 Ten years later, in 1835, Emily accompanied her sister to Roe Head, where Charlotte got a job as a teacher, but could hardly endure her homesickness and return to Haworth after three months.　 Despite this experience she braved the world again some two years afterwards and spent six trying months as a teacher in the school at Low Hill.　 In 1847 there were published Wuthering Heights.　 Not long after Branwell's death, Emily got illness and died of consumption at thirty in 1848.　 She remained single all through her life, and she had never been fallen in love with any man.
　　 Anne was the youngest of the Brontes.　 She was the mildest and prettiest among the Bronte sisters.　 In 1848 there was published her novel Agnes Grey.　 She died at the age of 29 in 1849.　
Emily's character

　 (8) Emily Bronte was a completely introversive and person. Many things to Emily were personal. Her religion, she once indicated emphaticallu, was between herself and God. Her personality was her one inviolable possession-- to be communicated through her art but kept intact from the invasion of and outsider. Such an instruction, she recognized, was a threat to her highest intehrity.　
(9) She was very unsociable,　　 She had few friends, except for her sisters, and she never talked too much with stranger. She was always isolated, and she was never completely happy away from her home and the freedom of the moors. She was outwardly undemonstrative and inwardly passionate, she represents a strange mingling of qualities.
(10) She seldom showed her concern to human, But left her love to animals, especially for dogs. She loved the wildness of the animals. ( Witness her dog, Keeper)　　　 With her unconquerable shyness, her indomitable courage, and her impeerious will, she combined a love of animals and a capacity to arouse intense devotion in others.　　　 She never fell in love with any man, and remained songle all through her life. Only thuough Wuthering Heights can we observe Emily's suppressed passion, and how does it burst out and become a boudless energy that filled in all characters.
　
　
　

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