Edith Wharton Post

Rich Hoggan
English 48B
Edith Wharton Blog Posting



Edith Wharton was an author who experienced life in a similar manner to Henry James in that she lived and went to school in Europe. The idea that she had similar experiences to James growing up lends license to the fact that she wrote similarly to James as well. In the introduction to Edith Wharton's work we read, "It is small wonder, then, that her work, like Henry James's, deals with what she described as the tragic psychic and moral effects on its members of a frivolous society under pressure" (829). While this quote covers the work of James', it also relates to the Wharton's characters.

Just having read "The Other Two," it's obvious that Mr. Waythorn suffers adverse effects from dealing with his wife's previous husbands. These "effects" become the social consequence of not dealing with one's past as they should. It even seems as though Mrs. Waythorn pushes away and ignores the fact that her ex-husband wishes to see his daughter. At the end of the story, these social consequences -- effects -- become extremely apparent in the fact that Mrs. Waythorn barely notices her daughter's father siting in the same room as everyone else. It could even be argued that she has a "what are you doing here" kind of attitude with him.

Found on her profile page on online-literature.com, we read "While in Paris, Wharton met journalist Morton Fullerton, who would become a close friend and was instrumental in getting some of her works published in France. They also had an affair that lasted three years. Teddy had a mistress and had been embezzling funds from Edith to support her. They were divorced in 1913" (online-literature.com - Wharton). This piece of information also demonstrates that Wharton experienced her own "social consequences" in that she was cheated on while married to Morton Fullerton, a French journalist. Knowing this, we can also assume that Wharton would have included pieces of her own life in her writing -- a throwback to Mrs. Waythorn potentially.

Understanding Wharton's writing as well as her own life gives us the ability to understand where her writing comes from and the social consequences that are evident within it. But this can be put into better perspective when Wharton writes "Her best friends would have preferred to see her remain in the role of the injured wife, which was as becoming to her as crepe to a rosy complexion" (831). Mrs. Waythorn's friends would rather she have not attempted to remarry and maintain the attitude that she doesn't need to marry but Mrs. Waythorn obviously didn't think the same way. The social consequences at this point could take the form of Mrs. Waythorn pursuing what she wishes while her friends take the sidelines expecting different results.

To sum up, it would appear that Wharton is simply writing for entertainment value or for exposing the scandal that existed and still exists in "high class" society but is writing to expose the effects of not handling one's personal life properly, especially when attempting to do so integrated with another person.