Evelina Lesson Plan

What kinds of things might Evelina have excluded in her letters to Mr. Villars because of the nature of their relationship?

This question prompts students to think about the limitations of the letter-writing as a genre of storytelling. Evelina is not writing in the first person to an unknown and universal reader: she is specifically writing to Mr. Villars most often. Mr. Villars is like a parent to Evelina. Most students will recognize that the things they tell (or don’t tell) their parents are likely very different from the things they tell friends, peers, or even other non-parent adults. Mr. Villars mentions at one point that he believes Evelina is too naïve to realize...