Hannah W. Foster's The Coquette, written in 1797, takes place in a time period and social arena where a woman's primary role consisted of finding a suitable husband and becoming contently married. Forced into a narrow confine of her role from her early childhood, a girl became caught in a world where she lacked any true power. Controlled by her society, it was difficult for a female to find her own voice and thoughts, without even displaying that self to the world. A woman rarely remained true to herself. Yet, The Coquette's main character, Eliza Wharton, lives the life of a young woman struggling to be self-reliant within the constraints created by her society. In this context, the word "self-reliant" refers to its definition in Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophical essay entitled "Self-Reliance." In his essay, Emerson defines self-reliance as the ability "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men (Emerson!
             23)..." In general, self-reliance refers to the ability to remain true to oneself. Specifically, Eliza accomplishes self-reliance by not immediately accepting Reverend Boyer's marriage proposal, as all of her peers believe is proper. This means not entering or conforming to a community where she knows she does not belong. Moreover, Eliza diligently remains consistent with her ideas throughout the course of the novel. She even openly rebels against the fact that men in her community enjoy far more social freedom than the women. In spite of this fact, even the male characters in The Coquette were punished for leading improper lifestyles.
             In Eliza's society, women lived in a very confined role, one that was not part of the outside world. The "cult of domesticity" said that a woman's world was strictly limited to that of the household (Davidson 15). Raising children and taking care of the home may lend the w...