Edith Wharton was born in New York in 1862
and died in Saint Brices-sous-Forêt, near Paris, in 1937. She is one of the
most notable American novelists. She belonged to an old and wealthy New York
family, and she received a refined private education. In 1885, when she was
twenty-three, Edith married Edward Robbins Wharton, twelve years older. They
divorced in 1902 because of her husband’s infidelities, which affected the
writer mentally and physically.
In 1907, she settled permanently in Paris. She
became a close friend of Henry James, and she met other relevant intellectual
figures of that time, such as Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and
Jean Cocteau. Since then, Wharton always lived surrounded by aristocrats,
novelists, historians and painters.
For
her services to France during the First World War, she was awarded the order of
the Legion of Honor. She was the first woman to receive her Ph.D. from Yale
University, and, in 1930, was named Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Letters.
Edith Wharton became known with the story The
Valley of Decision, that appeared in 1902. Since then, she published almost
one book per year until her death. She obtained recognition with The House
of Mirth (1905), a solid criticism of the American aristocratic classes,
starting her most fertile period of her literary activity with titles like The
Fruit of the Tree (1907), Madame de Treymes (1907), Ethan Frome
(1911), The Reef (1912), Summer (1917), The Custom of the
Country (1913), and many more important works.
The
Age of Innocence, published in 1920, is considered
her best work, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. In it, the author analyses
the difficulties of two lovers separated by the prejudices of their society.
Edith
Wharton is considered the greatest American novelist of her generation.
THE OTHER TWO
The story begins when, after their wedding, Alice and
Waythorn spend the first night at their home. Waythorn impatiently awaits his
wife’s arrival in the dining room, imagining the pleasure of the moment to come.
Alice had appeared in NY some years before this marriage,
as the pretty Mrs Haskett. Society accepted her recent divorce, and, even with
some doubts, considered that Mr Haskett was the responsible for that divorce,
and she deserved their confidence.
The case was that, when Alice Haskett remarried Gus Varick,
the couple became very appreciated in town, but not for long, because there was
a new divorce. In this occasion, it was admitted that Varick was not meant for
husband life.
Even some decent time had gone by when Alice married
Waythorn, there was a kind of surprise and discomfort in the social group.
However, by the time of the wedding, every bad consideration seemed to have
vanished.
Waythorn has had a kind of grey life, due mainly to
his character, and was seduced by Alice’s freshness and balanced personality.
Alice, 35 years old as she declared, had a little
girl, Lily Haskett, from her first marriage. The child became ill during the
honeymoon of her mother and Waythorn, and had been transferred to their house,
according to Waythorn desire.
When Alice arrives to the dining room, she tells her
husband that Mr Hackett claimed to visit his child in the house. Waythorn feels
astonishment and surprise, he knows nothing about that man, but finally thought
the father had the right to see his young daughter and accepted.
The following day, Waythorn was quite distressed, left
his house early and planned to came back late, avoiding any possibility of meeting
Mr Hackett.
Incredible but true, that morning the past came to the
present again, and Waythorn met face to face Gus Varick in the tube, “the
elevated” of New York, and again during lunch at a restaurant, where Waythorn
had his lunch in a hurry and Varick calmly enjoyed his meal.
The story continues presenting different situations in
which Waythorn has to meet the two previous husbands of his wife.
In the case of Mr Haskett, it was due to Lily’s health
and his strong determination to intervene in the care and education of his
daughter. This will provoke many visits and meetings between the two men. Waythorn
observed the humble and simple condition of Mr Haskett, but also his correction
about how to behave.
In the case of Gus Varick, it was an indeclinable
professional issue that determines obligatory encounters between these men with
such different personalities.
Over the time, the anxiety and disgust of Waythorn
became transformed into routine and acceptance of the situation with two living
ghosts in his marriage.
There was also a change in Waythorn valuation towards
Alice’s attitudes. She always stood out for her immediate adaptation to the
most complicated situations and her way of disguising the difficulties. That sometimes
exasperated and annoyed Waythorn, but finally he accepted the advantages of
this way of facing life, maintaining polite and impeccable forms, beyond the
complexity of the circumstances.
This is how, at the end of the story, the matters that occupy the characters of the story lead them all to meet in the library of the married couple, and they all had a traditional 5 o’clock tea.
QUESTIONS
Talk about the characters (personality, appearance, relationship
between them, job, age, social class, …)
Mrs Waythorn
Mr Waythorn
Lily Haskett
Mr Haskett
Mr Varick
Mr Sellers
What can you say about typhoid?
Why do you think Mr Waythorn fell in love with his wife?
Do you think he really loves her or, for him, she is a kind of possession, an
object?
In the story, they say that the only presence of the
mother will restore the child’s health. Do you believe in “aura” or charisma on
people? Did you find it in some person or other?
Where are Pittsburgh and Utica in relation to NY?
Describe Mr Waythorn and Mr Varick’s encounter on the
train.
Explain the business that Mr Varick has with Mr Waythorn’s office.
What is the problem with the governess?
What are Mr Waythorn’s debts to the other husbands for
the domestic happiness?
What age do you imagine (according to the text) women
become slack or febrile?
Why did Mr Waythorn ask his wife something about
Haskett with his back to her?
Was the love between Mrs Waythorn and Mr Varick mercenary?
Can you tell us differences and similarities between
the three husbands?
Why is there a mention of the novel Ben Hur?
What is Mr Waythorn’s way to deal with his wife’s
lies?
Compare Mme Bovary with Mrs Waythorn.
VOCABULARY
unblemished, ballast, slack, discrimination,
champions, stanchest, crape, complexion, innuendoes, rallied, worn his nerves
thin, wooing, proffer, “elevated”, overblown, propinquity, call, beringed,
swaddled, alluring, obdurate, apprised, paltriness, “Church Sociable”, “picture
hat”, chafing, wrought havoc, deprecatingly, groping, bare, lien, geniality,
pliantly, abides, harassed, zest, shed, blunders, jarred, nape