Monday, October 31, 2011

Evelina and Verisimilitude (Required Blog Post by Matt G.)

Matt writes:

Pamela is the only epistolary novel I have read until Evelina and I imagine that is the case with most of us.  Besides the same mode of writing both works have similar protagonists, in that they are young girls largely uninformed of higher society life.  That being said, it is only natural to look at the two works side by side to a certain extent.  Which character to you find more likable and why? 
Specifically for Evelina I found quite a bit of it hard to believe.  Naivety only extends so far as an excuse for Evelina’s behavior. Could she really have no idea on the proper etiquette of dances or how to talk to men?  If that is believable than shouldn’t have Mrs. Mirvan have realized this and taught Evelina on what is expected?  As to Mrs. Duval simply happening upon outside the theater in the rain, did anyone else find that a bit of an extremely unlikely circumstance?  I understand she had to be introduced somehow, but that just seemed like too much a stretch.

9 comments:

  1. I find my self much more in favor of Evelina. Knowing what we know about her history, birth, and family background, it is completely viable that she is as naive as she appears. I actually find "Evelina" to be extremely similar to a Jane Austen novel, only I like Evelina better, because her naivety lends to her genuine character. For example, in a novel like "Pamela" or "Pride and Prejudice" these women have full knowledge about the sport of husband hunting, and when they claim to be "in love", the sincerity of their character falls a little short. With Evelina, however, I genuinely admire that she doesn't know the social standards; it allows her to judge people based on character. I found it entertaining that she was able to simply turn down several men of rank because she found them repulsive; this is something that I have trouble finding in novels of this kind.
    Also, I do not think that Mrs. Mirvan fathomed that Evelina would be completely unaware of the social expectations, and once she found out how naive Evelina was, it was a little too late.

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  2. I feel myself in a different light than Dayna. I found myself to like the character of Pamela much more than Eveina. However, as strange as it sounds I think one of the main reasons for that is because I was so frustrated with the chracter of Pamela while reading the novel. I think that my frustration with the growth of her character is what led me to connect with her a little more than Eveline because I was contanstly trying to find a change in Pamela.

    On the contrary, I do think that knowing more history on Evelina helps with the development of the chracter as a whole. Her character eminds me of the girl in Princess Diaries. She had asolutely no etiqutte on how to talk to men or dance and act as a proper lady only because she grew up not caring about these things. I do think that it is possibly for this to be the case with Evelina, but at times it does seem exaggerated.

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  4. I personally like Evelina much more than Pamela, simply because I found Pamela kind of irritating as a character, and I found her progression a bit dissatisfying. Evelina, on the other hand, is endearing. She's more lighthearted and genuine, whereas Pamela's "artlessness" was up for debate. I enjoy the tone of the novel much more as well. The humor of Evelina's situation and mannerisms makes for a much more enjoyable read, whereas the angst and anxiety of Pamela's story make for a much darker read.


    As far as verisimilitude, while I found some of the situations a bit outlandish, I think they made for good comedy and endeared me to Evelina's character. Her naivete about customs is not unbelievable considering her upbringing, and I think it makes her a much more interesting character. Like Dayna pointed out, there aren't many novels of this time that would feature a female protagonist turning down men of rank based on her opinion of them, and I find it refreshing.

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  5. I like Evelina. Pamela was alright.. :P With Evelina, I find her situation to be believable. She was raised in the country with Reverend Villars so she is very inexperienced. And her bad behavior at the dance party/ball is sort of understandable. I think the reason why she makes the mistakes she make is because she is so nervous and is eagerly trying to NOT make mistakes. She doesn't want to say anything stupid that will disqualify her from high-class people. It's what I think about her interaction with Lord Orville. But with the other guy who is a dandy, I forget his name, he was just too ridiculous that she just bursted out laughing. I can understand that, because I laugh a lot when I'm not supposed to, and I get crap for it later.

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  6. I find myself liking Evelina much more than Pamela. Evelina's character is much more believable. Both are young girls, but Pamela didn't seem realistic. Maybe because a woman wrote Evelina versus a male who wrote Pamela. Pamela was portrayed as an "undercover slut" and Evelina is portrayed less slutty. Or at least that is how I have been interpreting it. Evelina tries so hard to not make mistakes and over thinks many of her actions, as a young girl would. Also, Evelina is pretty and as readers we know this - but with Pamela, we knew that SHE knew she was pretty. I'm team Evelina.

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  7. I was able to easily buy in to her naivety. Due to the fact that she constantly mentions how she has not seen many sights and does not know the customs, because before her trip with the Mirvans, she seems to have been a complete shut in with Rev Villars as her only company. So not only did she not have much interaction in society, she was also only from the country, which allowed me to accept that she was unfamiliar with the social norms of life in London. As for Madam Duval, I agree with you. It seems far too coincidental that she just ran in to the Mirvan family and Evelina. After reading that, I thought that she had planned to run into them due to a scheme she had or something, especially with the characterization we get of her in the letters before she is introduced to the narrative.

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  8. From the very beginning of the novel, I liked Evelina so much more than Pamela. I feel like Evelina is able to read and understand the other characters in the novel much better than Pamela did; Evelina (for the most part) has the ability to determine who does and does not have her best interests in mind. I think that it is very believable that Evelina could not have known the proper etiquette for social events in London. Also I think that it is very plausible that Mrs. Mirvan would not have been more instructive towards Evelina-- regardless of her feelings towards Evelina, she is more concerned about finding her daughter a husband. As for the meeting between Madam Duval and Evelina, while it was a bit far-fetched, I think that it had to happen in some sort of accidental way; the Mirvans and Madam Duval are in very different social groups. Also, had Evelina or Mrs. Mirvan known that Madam Duval was going to be somewhere, I feel like they would have avoided going to that place.

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  9. I would definitely agree with Krista. Evelina as a person seems so much more real than Pamela did. I found even the story of Pamela to be unbelievable and too fairy-tale-ish. Throughout the entirety of Pamela, she is so self-centered and fickle about so many things, not to mention, her encounters with Squire B (almost wrote Booby there), were just irritating because she couldn't handle herself.

    Evelina strikes me as a more cohesive character because she has a back story - thanks to the letters in the beginning. She's described by others, we learn about her appearance, personality, etc. through other means, not through someone talking about themselves. I feel like it could be realistic that she has no idea how to act around others. If she had never had to do so before, why are we assuming that she should be so capable?

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