American Literature II

I could not believe Undine was willing to withhold her son from Ralph until he gave her the money to get an annulment. I sympathized with Undine for the majority of the novel because I understood how she didn’t have any other choice to gain wealth and status in society. However, her complete disregard for her child makes me wonder what is it behind her desires to be a person of status and wealth that she is willing to sacrifice her own child. She has no significant, honest, real relationships in her life. Everything is transactional: she only uses people when she needs something, that goes from her father, her husband, lover, and her son. I think her capitalistic mindset stems from her feelings of lack on an emotional level. I think because she was spoiled by her father she idealized a life of extravagance and she thought that would make her happy, but she doesn’t see how empty she really is inside. She thinks if she gets what she wants it will fill the void, but paradoxically what she wants is for people to admire her. She wants to be the source of people’s admiration yet there is nothing for them to admire because she is always going outside of herself to seek fulfillment, leaving no real reason for anyone to go to her for the source of their happiness.

-Sabrina Rodriguez

Edith Wharton’s Custom of the Country, foretold present day reality TV shows. Undine Spragg is a spoiled and desperate social climber. She comes from New Money, which explains her lack of knowledge and class. Her show would probably get a million views because she’s entertaining to watch/read about. I’m not a fan of her, but being a girl, I can sympathize with her wanting to be the baddest girl in the room. She has this constant hunger for attention and she doesn’t know when to stop. Although she’s not a likable character, she catches on pretty fast on ironic jokes made by the New Money gang. Her ambition allowed her to learn quickly and follow trends.

I don’t understand why Ralph thinks she’s bae material, she doesn’t seem like a great person. So what if she’s impressionable? I’m sure he can find a better girl. I guess they’re good together as a couple since no one really likes Ralph either. After reading that chapter, he seems like he was bad in bed and Undine doesn’t even have the decency to pretend that she had fun.

To narrate the interior life of a character is to try to understand that character’s motives, how he/she thinks, why he/she has particular feelings.  Many critics have argued that this requires either sympathy for the character on the part of the author or at least a readiness to suspend judgment.  And yet Edith Wharton is writing as a satirist.  At times, she is clearly critiquing the values and attitudes of her characters.  How is she able to do this while also offering a compelling description of how her characters’ minds work?  Does Wharton achieve a balance between sympathy and satire?  If so, how?  If not, what is her agenda?  Which prevails in her characterization: the urge to judge or the urge to understand?  Please consider a short passage one paragraph or one page), in which Wharton describes the thoughts of either Undine Spragg or Ralph Marvell.  Try to figure out whether she is subtly mocking the character, whether she is expressing sympathy, or whether she is doing both.  Please choose a passage that appears in either Book II or later (after page 107 in the assigned edition)

1-2 pages, double-spaced.  Due March 13.

If you prefer, you may also use the generic prompt under Response Paper Guidelines:

Response Paper Guidelines

While I do not share in the narrator’s contempt of the Spragg family, I understand why their ostentatious nature comes off as too “in your face” or overdone. I can’t help but see her family’s gaudy displays of wealth and desire for more as excessive. Undine’s primary motivation is to rise in the world and be someone of stature and wealth. At first, I didn’t hold Undine Spragg in high regard because of this. But her thoughtfulness for her cause made me rethink.

“Undine’s preference was for the worldly parties, at which games were played, and she returned home laden with prizes in Dutch silver; but she was duly impressed by the debating clubs, where ladies of local distinction addressed the company from an improvised platform, or the members argued on subjects of such imperishable interest as: ‘What is Charm?'” (18).

With the description of the Mexican onyx and French portraits in the Spragg’s hotel room coupled with the Dutch silver, I get a sense of the family trying to embed worldliness and culture into their inner circle. Especially for Undine, I imagine the line about “at which games were played” refers to more than just simple party tricks. I see Undine as a keen observer and absorber of the old money’s rituals and traditions.

Once Undine climbs the social ranks, paired with her family’s new money, what will be her next motivation?

In class when we discussed The Revolt of Mother, the question was raised as to whether or not Sarah could be considered a feminist character. Several members of our class, including myself, did not consider Sarah to be a feminist character, because of her dedication to her traditional gender role as homemaker. In fact, the genre of regionalism seemed to merely be a nostalgic glorification of old traditions. Nevertheless, after discussing it in class, I realized that Sarah had many feminist characteristics, as she did challenge the patriarchal hierarchy, even if it was within her traditional gender role. This prompted me to think about feminism and how sometimes our modern perspective of feminism can compromise the way we view female characters in earlier literature. This is because conventional wisdom has it that feminism is the strong advocacy of female empowerment, and we very much associate it with modern American feminist movements, like the movement led by Gloria Steinham in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, by focusing on our modern notion of feminism, it becomes easy to overlook earlier instances of feminism, which seem to be more subtle than today’s. In the early twentieth century novel The Custom of the Country, there are instances in which we see women being highly restricted by the customs of their society. In the letter Mrs Fairford writes to Mrs Spragg, for example, she requests Mrs Spragg’s permission to ‘allow’ her daughter to attend dinner, as girls need their mother’s permission to do anything until they get married, and then that responsibility is passed down to the girl’s husband. Although this tradition adopted by high-society has elements that are evidently sexist, Undine and Mrs Heeny respond to this aspect of the letter in an empowering fashion.

Undine was brooding over the note. ‘It is written to mother – Mrs Abner E Spragg – I never saw anything so funny! “Will you allow your daughter to dine with me?” Allow! Is Mrs Fariford peculiar?’

‘No – you are,’ said Mrs Heeny bluntly. ‘Don’t you know it’s the thing in the best society to pretend that girls can’t do anything without their mother’s permission? You just remember that, Undine. You mustn’t accept invitations from gentlemen without you say you’ve got to ask your mother first.’ (Wharton 7)

In Undine making this comment, she is acknowledging the absurdity of this aspect of her traditional gender role. This comment blatantly conveys a sense of independence and female empowerment embedded in Undine and although she eventually abides by this sexist tradition, she is only doing to advance herself. As Ms. Heeny commented, a girl has to ‘pretend’ that she isn’t independent and that she can’t do anything on her own. The word ‘pretend’ here has important implications for the way we look at feminism and how it applies to this novel. In the first part of the novel, Undine’s obsession with finding a high-status husband may seem to go against the principles of feminism, nevertheless, Undine’s determination to reach the pinnacle of high-society is quite bold, unlike the meekness attributed to conventional notions of women. Similarly to Sarah in The Revolt of Mother, Undine does not rebel against the patriarchal hierarchy of her society, but instead, uses her beauty, wit, and diabolical ways to advance herself within her conventional gender role. Thus, like Sarah, we can also consider Undine to be a feminist. Undine’s determination to obtain the best husband reads as an early twentieth century way of achieving female independence and empowerment, as marrying into the pinnacle of society will buy that for her.

I love how unsettling The Blue Hotel was. I didn’t care for any of the characters at all and wouldn’t like to meet any of them, but I was invested in what was happening to them. The Swede was the only man who behaved erratically and in ways you wouldn’t predict, even though he seemed so desperate to fit in. The rest of the characters all fit Western character archetypes of sketchy businessmen, aggressive cowboy, and useless intellectual. The Swede didn’t fit any expected role and caused tension between the men, because none of them were willing to break their own character and reach out to understand him.

Each scenario could have been deescalated so easily, but no one was willing to try. Johnnie cheated at the game and refuses to admit it. The cowboy is swayed by his own violent tendencies, and encourages the fighting. The Easterner knew he could diffuse the fight, but doesn’t say anything to discourage them. If they never fought, the Swede would never have left the hotel. When the Swede is murdered at the end of the story, the Easterner decides they’re all to blame for his death. I keep thinking about the ending, and what would have happened if the Swede wasn’t so paranoid. Would he have just eventually encountered more violence anyway?

Great Blue Heron (source linked)

I like when authors describe western landscapes because they’re usually so idealized, but I enjoyed Crane’s dismal description of Nebraska too. In particular, I liked how he compared the hotel to a blue heron, because they’re majestic but also ridiculous.