Evelina: You want...what?

This book definitely set itself apart from the books we read before it. Being the first one of our readings to be authored by a woman, I felt that it offered us a more realistic portrayal of young girls in this time. In Pamela, all the main character thought about was her virtue. In Shamela, it was sex. But in Evelina we see some of the private desires of a young girl: to feel a sense of belonging, to join the “in” crowd, and to catch the favorable attention of a handsome guy.
While I agree that this book is something of an instruction manual for young girls, I can’t help but feel that it was also something of a critique of society at the time. I feel that this was maybe the true purpose of Burney’s novel but she “pulled her punches” a bit because perhaps she was afraid of criticism. The humorous situations that Evelina gets herself stuck in and the spats between the Captain and Madame Duval show just how improper society really was under all that pretentiousness. Even the petty acts of Mr. Lovel represent just how unforgiving this world is to the smallest mistakes.
There were times in this novel where I felt like Evelina was being hunted down like a naive deer by those that are more experienced with worldly matters, Sir Clement, Mr. Lovel, even Madame Duval seem to exploit her lack of social grace. And after all the trouble Evelina gets herself into, I wondered whether it was all worth it.
I’m really tempted to include this excerpt from a song called “Why You’d Want to Live Here” by Death Cab for Cutie which reminds me of this novel:

“It's a lovely summer's day
I can almost see a skyline through a thickening shroud of egos.
Is this the city of angels or demons?
And here the names are what remain: stars encapsulate the golden lame
and they need constant cleaning for when the tourists begin salivating.
And I can't see why you'd want to live here.
Billboards reach past the tallest buildings,
You can't swim in a town this shallow
because you will most assuredly drown tomorrow.”

It seems like something Mr. Villars would say to Evelina, or something even I would say to her because after all of the emotional anguish and embarrassment of her time in London society, all she really gets is a guy. And sure, Lord Orville is this amazingly polite and caring guy, not to mention rich and popular. But to be completely honest, he really doesn’t have any reason to like her other than the fact that she’s really beautiful. But hey, he must have had some deeper feeling for her than that because he sees her screw up so many times and still likes her. But after all of that headache, she gets...married. Forgive me for not leaping for joy here, but doesn’t that all just mean NEW social interactions that she’ll need to master as Lord Orville’s wife, and that she may very well screw up just as badly as she did this one? Does anyone else feel like Evelina got ripped off in this deal?