Among moments of intense drama and Evelina's highs and lows in the second half of the novel are dispersed moments of particulars that are rather odd. Two of the most memorable and bizarre of such moments are the race that takes place in Letter VII of Volume III, and the incident with a monkey in Letter XXI of Volume III.
The race is an event that seems to me rather odd, and although I cannot attest to the validity of gentlemen having two 80-year-old women race one another in a garden to settle a bet, it is quite an entertaining section in the novel, if not merely due to its absurdity. Not only is the practice itself of racing these two ladies bizarre, but the nature of the bet itself is not memorable and its purpose is glossed over, placing more focus on the suggested ways by which the bet would be settled in an earlier letter, and on the race itself.
The scene with the monkey is equally odd, again in part due to the event itself and due to the timing and duration of the scene. After having spent the day reuniting with Evelina's first party of the novel, the group were together back at Madame Beaumont's house when Captain Mirvan, ever the prankster, is called upon by a "small gentleman". Much to the confusion and distress of the rest of the part, a monkey dressed in a suit strolls into the room, sending the ladies up into their chairs and causing quite a clatter. Once the monkey is thrown out of the room by Lord Orville and composure is restored, the monkey is never again mentioned.
What is the purpose of these two bizarre occurrences in the novel, both having little to no context, seeming reason, or being further reflected upon in the rest of the novel? To catch the reader off-guard and to transition from moments of general mundanity to periods of heightened drama. Each of these scenes occur after uneventful passages and end with or are followed by stressful or major events for Evelina, either being attacked by Lord Merton for the first or leading to her marriage with Lord Orville. By framing these moments in this way, Burney effectively disorients the reader and enforces a stronger sense of stress that Evelina feels following these scenes.