Thoughts on “The Custom of the Country” ?: Undecided
“The Custom of the Country” is what I’d like to call an endless emotional roller coaster that allowed the reader to breathe a sigh of relief upon completion. Wharton achieves, many things in this novel, but one of these many things is having developed realistic characters. By realistic, I mean characters that have good qualities and bad qualities that manifest themselves throughout the story line. Giving characters complexity allows readers to evaluate characters on a level that is beyond the surface. While the reader does judge and decides whether they like a certain character or not, the reader also has to respect and understand the characters because Wharton displays everything there is to know about each of the characters. For example, I did not enjoy Undine’s character at all, but as the reader I understood Undine and why she did the things she did. When taking the society she lived in, observing her relationship with her parents and her desire to always have more than what she currently had at a point in time, into consideration it was hard to blame her for everything. People are a product of their environment and Wharton displays that throughout most of the main characters in the book. Wharton’s wit and subtle sarcastic remarks are what make the book humerus and somewhat bearable. While I understand that the book is a satire and not meant to be taken too seriously, I couldn’t help but read the events in the book and notice how real they were. Overall the book wad solid, and though I probably won’t read this book again, I would certainly suggest it to a friend.
2 responses so far
Much like you, one of the things that I focused on was the realistic representation of characters demonstrated in this book. Upon reading it I actually felt that is was almost a breath of fresh air, having the character’s thoughts no matter how disagreeable, be presented to the readers. I loved the honesty that was shown behind even some of the outmost narcissistic tendencies that Undine possessed. When viewing some other readers’ perspectives I was actually often disappointed that they didn’t recognize that there was such complexity of the characters represented in the book. Even though Undine didn’t grow out of her ways, we as readers can know and understand that it was due to, as you pointed out: her being the product of her society. To expand on that I actually do admire this character, specifically for not giving excuses for what she desires regardless of the fact that her desires are immoderate. Thus, as our views on the book are similar, our views of Undine’s character differ. This further demonstrates the point, which you presented, that as the author provided the characters with complexity, we as readers might evaluate them at our choice.
I agree with how realistic the novel is as Wharton displays the various qualities in the characters. I also think that what makes this a timeless novel. Readers can relate to the emotions and actions of characters as they either see a bit of themselves or a bit of someone they know in them. We may all know an Undine in our lives. The complexity of the characters make them timeless as we too are complex beings. As much as some of us, myself included, did not enjoy reading this book, we acquired an appreciation for it. Like you said, we can understand the characters because Wharton does describe each in depth and gives us insight into their thoughts and perspectives.