I admit it's a bit unfair of me to put it this way, since as I said, most of Anne's reserve is probably due to things that are not her fault. We have hints that she was different at 19, and as Jenny Allan points out, she starts to become less reserved during the second part of the book. However, I still think that excessive reserve is a theme in this novel!

About reserve: I would say that reserve is not a matter of *lacking* deep feelings, as your post seems to imply (did I get that wrong?), but the refusal to *share* those feelings with someone else. In "Emma", Jane Fairfax is presumably seething with strong feelings, but won't (or can't) share them with others. The same goes for Elinor in S&S. We are told that she feels deeply, yet she is extremely reserved.