American Literature II

After Undine is divorced and returns to New York to visit her parents, Undine has a moment of reflection. Undine, momentarily, seems to see the role she played in her downfall and the end of her marriage. The paragraph I’ve chosen seems to go back and forth, and her moment of thoughtfulness is surrounded by her regular thoughts.

The section I’ve selected is the third paragraph in the sixteenth chapter. It starts with mention of Undine’s son, Paul, and Mrs. Spragg’s desire to see him: “Undine did not want to talk of her boy. She could forget him when, as she put it, things were ‘going her way’, but in moments of discouragement the thought of him was an added bitterness, subtly different from her other bitter thoughts, and harder to quiet. It had not occurred to her to try to gain possession of the child… she quieted her scruples by thinking of him as ‘better off’ with Ralph’s family, and of herself as rather touchingly disinterested in putting his welfare before her own.”  Here, the narrator seems removed. Undine here is not impassioned as she usually is. But, the mention of Undine not thinking to take her son seems like the narrator is making fun of Undine. Undine was “touchingly disinterested” in doing her job as a mother, which is very selfish. Touchingly is defined as, in a touching manor, and touching defined as, capable of arousing emotions of tenderness or compassion. “Touchingly disinterested in putting his welfare before her own” seems contradictory and I think the narrator does this on purpose to show how ridiculous the idea is. Undine being able to forget her son when she wanted to or when she was happy is not the example of a good mother anywhere and I believe the narrator wants us to know this. We get the perspective of Undine in this paragraph

Yet, the narrator follows this train of Undine’s feelings with, “… but it pained her that her boy should be so near, yet inaccessible, and for the first time she was visited by unwonted questionings as to her share of the misfortunes that had befallen her. She had voluntarily stepped out of her social frame, and the only person on whom she could with any satisfaction have laid the blame was the person to whom her mind now turned with a belated tenderness. It was thus, in fact, that she thought of Ralph.” These lines show the beginnings to some honest introspection on Undine’s part. It also shows sympathy for Undine from the narrator. Here, the narrator shows that Undine has some remorse over the limitations on her regarding her son. She is only annoyed that she is unable to visit her child and does not actually miss Paul himself but, it’s one of the more considerate or aware statements Undine has made regarding her child.  This passage also mentions Undine rethinking how she felt about Ralph.

In the next lines of the paragraph, the narrator returns to a mocking tone. “She could console herself only by regarding it as part of her sad lot that poverty, and the relentless animosity of his family, should have put an end to so perfect a union: she gradually began to look on herself and Ralph as the victims of dark machinations, and when she mentioned him she spoke forgivingly, and implied that ‘everything might have been different’ if ‘people’ had not ‘come between’ them.” Undine consoling herself by blaming others for her decision is ridiculous and that much is obvious. Undine also never described her marriage to Ralph as a perfect union before. The narrator agrees because the phrase “console herself only by regarding it,” meaning that the only way Undine makes herself feel better is by looking at the situation in a way different from the truth, or ‘regrading it’ as something that it was not.

The added quotation marks surrounding the last few phrases and words seem to question what their meaning is. Obviously, those words would make sense in that sentence without the quotations but the narrator adds them to imply that it makes no sense in relation to Ralph and Undine’s situation. The narrator seems to be mocking Undine by doing that. Those quotations usually denote uncertainty; they seem to be asking, what ‘might have been different,’ what ‘people’ had ‘come between them.’ The state of their marriage was due mainly to Undine’s transgressions so how can she imply that anything else really had a factor in it?

In this paragraph, there are examples of both mockery and slight sympathy from the narrator. Mostly mockery is present but there is understanding on the part of the narrator that may be foreshadowing for some slight changes in Undine’s behavior and outlook.