Respond to the following discussion post::
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Hannah Foster’s The Coquette is about the life of Eliza Wharton. This story was written when women were seen and not heard and it was the parent’s discussion as to whom their daughter would marry. In this story, Eliza does the opposite of what well-brought-up girls should have done in this time. She moves in with friends who she described as “conjugal felicity” (Foster Letter 2), which I sense is probably something she wanted for herself, meets two men and leads both of them on. After it is too late she realizes that her actions were wrong and that she truly loved Mr. Boyer who was engaged to another woman. In the end, Eliza becomes pregnant with Mr. Sanford’s baby but it sadly dies shortly after birth and Eliza becomes sick herself and dies as well. I think the audience for this story would be young women because this is a story of the ups and downs of love. Throughout her life, Eliza’s family and friends are telling her exactly how she should live her life and she almost insists on doing the opposite of what they feel should be done. Her death made her family realize that she wanted to live her life for her and no one else no matter what the world or anyone else thought of how she lived it. I think Foster was trying to show young women that we should all live our lives the way we see fit but that all our actions have consequences. I think this may be a story that young girls today could learn from.
150 – 350 words