Evelina In Jane Smiley's The Suspicious Husband

Evelina also knows how important her reputation is to Mr. Villars and others around her. She doesn’t want to let them down so she tries her best to live up to the lifestyle expected of her. Gillian Skinner provides a good instance of this in ‘‘AN UNSULLIED REPUTATION IN THE MIDST OF DANGER’’: BARSANTI, PROPRIETY AND PERFORMANCE IN BURNEY’S
EARLY JOURNALS AND LETTERS” with “On the evening of her arrival in London, Evelina sees David Garrick in Benjamin Hoadly’s The Suspicious Husband (1747). Later that night, she writes rapturously to her guardian, Mr Villars: I would have given the world to have had the whole play acted over again. And when he danced O how I envied Clarinda. I almost wished to have jumped on the stage and joined them. I am
afraid you will think me mad, so I won’t say any more. This is like a child who behaves when adults are around and/or say the exact things that they want to hear, but are sneaky and devious behind their backs. Though Evelina writes the above statement and judgmental letter regarding her surroundings to Mr. Villars, it’s only in efforts to keep up the image to him that he wants and expects her to have. As mentioned earlier, many of her stories are one sided, so readers only get the perspective she wants them to have. This also adds emphasis to the idea of one acquiring a perception of one early on and that perception being hard to change. Those around Evelina view her as being good and virtuous. Just as it’s usually hard to convince a parent their child did something wrong, it’s hard for those around Evelina to view her in a different light. If one is use to their child behaving in a good manner, it’s sometime hard to persuade them that their child acted out of conduct outside their presence.