Berry Hill is Evelina’s childhood home where she was raised by her adopted guardian, Mr. Villars. Berry Hill represents Evelina’s innocence, virtue, and purity. It’s is the place where Evelina’s story begins (she sets out on her adventures from Berry Hill) and represents her youth, naïveté, and sheltered upbringing away from society. Evelina’s journey into town puts her return to Berry Hill in jeopardy, as she may be kidnapped and married off by her grandmother, Madame Duval. This threat symbolizes the broader moral and spiritual dangers of city life, which threaten to corrupt Evelina and ruin her innocence—something she would never get back, just as she could never return to Berry Hill if she made a bad match with an unsuitable husband. Evelina learns to navigate city life without jeopardizing her innocence, and therefore, at the novel’s conclusion, she returns to Berry Hill with her new husband, Lord Orville. Since Evelina resists corruption and makes an honorable marriage with a man who loves and respects her, her return to Berry Hill symbolizes the idea that she has successfully transitioned from being an innocent girl to a mature young woman without compromising her virtue.
Berry Hill Symbol Timeline in Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World
