Write a brief essay of 500 words [not including the passage you’re examining] that analyzes a brief moment in The Coquette. Your goal is to demonstrate through close analysis of the text’s language how the text tells us something about one of the novel’s major preoccupations. You will select ONE of the following questions for your paper to address:
1) Find a moment where we see sympathy or sensibility in the novel–what does this passage say about the novel’s approach to sympathy/sensibility?
2) Find a moment where we see a view/opinion about marriage in the novel (any aspect of marriage)–what does this passage reveal about the novel’s consideration of marriage as a social institution?
3) Find a moment where might we read the novel in terms of politics–how does the passage help us see the ways that the novel thinks of marriage/sociability/relationships as resembling politics or offering political models?
4) Where do we see attempts to reinforce or complicate gender norms in the novel? Select a passage that helps you unpack a specific attitude towards or about gender in the novel.
5) Pick a character besides Eliza and analyze their function or role in the narrative by examining a representative passage that contributes to their characterization.
