This passage captures the way that

This passage captures the way that Willoughby is able to use the expecta tions of polite society—one does not jump from carriages, one does not impute scandalous intentions to gentlemen—to exert physical restraint on Evelina. Convention here limits physical movement. There is, in this sense, a conventional component to any situation, since every situation makes reference to social beliefs about action and knowledge. Such components do not make Ronen’s distinction between stereotyped and unique situation invalid, but they do suggest that unique situations are such only in very relative ways; the vast majority of what makes these situations meaningful is that they conform to our beliefs about action, knowledge, and movement.