The Coquette And The Boarding School Analysis

In the novel “The Coquette and The Boarding School,” Foster tells the tale from in an epistolary format. This type of narrative can be useful to teach English undergraduates for the story is told in an unbiased perspective. “The Coquette and The Boarding School,” honors female voices and shows a vivid image of women’s lives in the late 18th century. Foster’s novel can help professors show students a superb example of an epistolary novel, which was a popular format in the 18th century. Throughout the novel Foster does an excellent job create an image of what women’s culture was like in the 18th century. However, I was able to learn something new after reading a literary essay written by Gabriella Timbancaya, who is a student at the University of the Philippines. In Timbancaya’s essay “Freedom and constraint: Discourses on gender, politics and nation identity in Hannah Webster Foster’s ‘The
Women are told to be pure and not act like a coquette they are immediately looked down at when they show even the slightest signs of sexual liberation, and men tend to judge them for their actions. However, if the protagonist was a man in this novel society wouldn’t care if he slept around with a bunch of women. In that case the women are considered the villains for sleeping around. Major Sanford has a reputation in the novel for seducing women and has been referred to as a rake. However, even though Major Sanford is classified for his repetitive sexual conduct he is still talked about highly in society. Since Major Sanford is part of the upper class in society he is still repetitively invited to these parties despite being known as a womanizer. Since Eliza is not doing so well financially she would be considered a tramp or a prostitute; even though she doesn’t even mean to come off as flirtatious it’s just part of her