Week 5

There are a couple areas around The Coquette which I found interesting. One is how the book seems to relate to the American attitude. And the other is how I was really able to relate to portions of the text.
Eliza Wharton really seems to relate to the American spirit by the way she excercises her vibrant free will. In a time when women were supposed to act the part which society had written for them, Eliza chose to rebel and not conform. Women during this period of time were supposed to marry within their social class, have many children, and be the homemaker society wanted them to be. While Eliza was initially going to conform and marry a much older man who had money, he died and she expressed her relief. Now, I believe, she felt like she was given a second chance to do what she wanted and make her own happiness. In fact, in a letter Eliza explains to Lucy Freeman that "I recoil at the thought of immediately forminag a connection, which must confine me to the duties of domestic life, and make me dependent for happiness...I would not have you consider me as confined to your society, or obligated to a future connection...You must either quit the subject, or leave me to the excercise of my free will..."(pg. 29) How does Eliza's independent attitude relate to the American spirit? I believe it is because the colonies of the new world would not conform into paying the taxes to the king of England and thus rebelled. But that was just the beginning. The United States has always seemed be the nation which will always do what it wants when it wants. Up until the United Nations was formed, America seemed to draw the lines of right and wrong for other countries. Actually, we seem to still do that in today's world. I view America as having a philosophy of not conforming to the world, but making the world conform to us. Just like Eliza, America did not conform but rebelled against the world's view of what it should do.
The other area I want to touch on was the personal application I took away from this book. In class, we just barely touched on the relationship Eliza had with Major Sanford which brought up the question of why Eliza kept going back to him even though she knew there was really no future for her in his eyes. This relationship brought up some memories of a past relationship I had. About from my junior year in highschool to about my freshman year in college, I dated this girl off and on. I'm not sure why we always broke up and hot back together. I think both of us always knew that there was not a future for ourselves together but we would get back together anyways. Perhaps we both just liked having the feeling of security that we had someone to talk to when the day was over or just to have someone to hold. whatever the reason, I think Eliza's feelings towads Major Sanford is pretty much the same. While he does a good deal of "playing the game", I think she ultimately understands that he is not a permanent solution. But, like myself, she liked to have him around for the time being as did he.