Edith Wharton
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Introduction – Grounding
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it”
Vesalius in “Zante” (Bartlett 700).
Edith Whartons outside appearance in no way reflected the inner struggles she dealt with her whole life. She was born into a wealthy, affluent, socially prominent family. On the outside it appeared she had everything, yet the reader will come to find that she had struggles like everyone else, possibly worse than the average person. Edith Wharton rose above societys walls to overcome barriers such as equality that existed for young women in the late eighteen hundreds.
Edith Wharton was an author in the Age of Realism who stood out to me. I selected to research her because of her societal rank and how she led two lives. One life was an author who rebelled against the very society that brought her up and the other life was the wealthy socialite. I also was intrigued in her interest in New York City fashion as she was amongst some of the most socially prominent families in the country.
What I know; assume or imagine
I know Edith Wharton was born in to a very wealthy family in New York City. Her writings are based upon the high societal rank she was raised in. My assumptions of her writings consist of her speaking well about the elite group she socialized with. I assume that Edith Whartons beliefs are that she is above the average person and is out of touch with the real world. I feel that based upon the society she was born into that she was also very fashion conscience. I imagine her life was full of money and greed, and unfortunately never caught on to the little things in life that make it so special.
The Search (two main parts)
My first step in the research of Edith Wharton was going to the library on February 22, 2005. Not knowing much about her, I found four books which were as follows: Classic Love and Romance Literature, A Readers Guide to Twentieth Century Writers, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Literature in English, and Famous American Authors. All of these books included extensive articles that portrayed Edith Wharton.
The next step in my researching process took place the following day by finding a quotation of Whartons in the library. In Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett, I found the quote that was not only one directly from one of Whartons short stories, but one that portrayed herself to a great extent. Also on February 24, 2005 I looked in our class textbook, Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience, and found some quality information on Wharton. To sum up my researching information on March 6, 2005, I found an Internet source titled “Edith Wharton”.
Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24, 1862 into one of societals highest families. A major assumption I made was because she was born into such a wealthy family she was protected from the real world. As a young child she looked up to her mother greatly. Her only wishes then were to meet the high societal standards of her peers and to be the best dressed woman in New York City (Bolton 167).
In an outside view of Edith Wharton my assumptions were correct in many ways. Her parents did not want to strain her mind because of an early illness of typhoid fever. She most importantly had private tutors to increase her knowledge in the “proper” English language and also proper etiquette. She was also taught Italian, French, and German by a series of tutors and her parents omitted Greek and Latin because of her earlier illness (Bolton 168).
The assumption I made of Edith Wharton being above the average person was not completely correct because as she got older she had her own struggles within her protected world. When I made my assumptions I did not know Edith Whartons inner turmoil. Although Edith Wharton had playmates arranged by her mother, she preferred to be alone with her imaginary playmates. She also enjoyed reading alone in her fathers library. As she read she had the desire to write herself, but at that time her scribbling wasnt taken seriously. Her parents did not provide her any paper to write on or any novels to read because her mother felt it was not proper English. Against her mothers wishes she would write on paper from packages that were delivered to the house (Bolton 169).
As Edith Wharton got older she understood the high society less and less, which was contradictory to what I had assumed. At age seventeen Edith Wharton had her first debut. This debut was forced upon her based again on her social rank. This would go along with my assumptions, but this is not something Wharton did by choice, but by pressure and expectations from her parents. Aside from my assumptions she was the first writer among her family and friends. She stood out from the norm in such a wealthy class: the more she wrote the more her true self shown through, and the more her family and friends were embarrassed (Bolton 170).
In 1885, Edith Wharton married Edward “Teddy” Wharton (Brackett 367). As a couple they traveled extensively and she lived her fashionable life as I had assumed. Teddy also never took interest in her creativity and her writings, as a result she stopped writing for a couple years (Brackett 368). Their marriage was miserable and Teddy suffered from a mental illness. Although her marriage was unhappy, she cared for her ill husband until she could no longer care for him. To relieve stress, Wharton found herself and began to write again (Parker 784).
The older and more knowledgeable Edith Wharton became, the more my assumptions are incorrect. It