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Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

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other and uncles, and keeping her from those very<br />

advisers who could set her free. As Donnalee Frega so<br />

aptly puts it:<br />

. we realize that it is <strong>Clarissa</strong>'s<br />

"character" [that] has led her entire family<br />

and <strong>Clarissa</strong> herself, to expect the compliance<br />

they suggest. They are honestly puzzled when<br />

their kinswoman rebels, apparently for the<br />

first time. It is the tendency to confront<br />

<strong>Clarissa</strong> as an object, a body that can be<br />

manipulated in spite of free will, rather than<br />

as a self-directed identity, which blinds the<br />

family to their child's real distress and the<br />

child herself to her own potential for self-<br />

realization. (15)<br />

Frega leads us to understand <strong>Clarissa</strong>'s rationalizations<br />

why she cannot keep the dairy house and why she cannot<br />

oppose her family or Lovelace in court.<br />

Willing the Harlowe Family<br />

<strong>Clarissa</strong>'s ability to use the language of<br />

inheritance and her understanding of its implications for<br />

her life also drive the Harlowe men, Lovelace, and even

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