Edith Wharton
ed THE SHORT STORIES OF EDITH WHARTON
1). What is a modern heroine? My conception of a modern heroine is a woman who has integrity, puts her ideas into action, can verbally and sometimes physically spar with a man, is aware of her own emotions, and has compassion for others. She is empowered and independent, not afraid to travel, experience different cultures and even alien civilizations, can pilot a plane or spacecraft, and has the intelligence to build one. She is also very loyal to her trusted friends and those family members she deems worthy of her time and energy.
2). Aside from the obvious physical differences, I think that Edith Wharton’s protagonists do have many of the characteristics of my modern heroine. Most of her female protagonists have the characteristics of integrity, adaptability, loyalty to family, and ability to forbear the vicissitudes of life. They are not empowered in the way that we perceive twenty-first century women to be, or our ‘super-heroines’ like Xena, Warrior Princess or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or even those women who go into combat overseas. They are not overtly sexually liberated either, but for the post-Victorian time period in which she wrote, each character does display, respectively, the great desire for independence, individual happiness, and sensitivity to her own emotions. It is not surprising that Wharton wrote from a male narrator’s point of view in her early stories, yet focusing always on the female protagonist. The earliest story, “The Pelican”, written in 1898, concerns a Mrs. Amyot, who came from an ancestry of female intellectuals, and although she didn’t possess their high intelligence, still pursued a career as a lecturer, at first with some trepidation, but later with great confidence and success. The male narrator followed her through the years, observing that she experienced great success abroad and in America. She had been left a widow with a small child, and always told people that she
1). What is a modern heroine? My conception of a modern heroine is a woman who has integrity, puts her ideas into action, can verbally and sometimes physically spar with a man, is aware of her own emotions, and has compassion for others. She is empowered and independent, not afraid to travel, experience different cultures and even alien civilizations, can pilot a plane or spacecraft, and has the intelligence to build one. She is also very loyal to her trusted friends and those family members she deems worthy of her time and energy.
2). Aside from the obvious physical differences, I think that Edith Wharton’s protagonists do have many of the characteristics of my modern heroine. Most of her female protagonists have the characteristics of integrity, adaptability, loyalty to family, and ability to forbear the vicissitudes of life. They are not empowered in the way that we perceive twenty-first century women to be, or our ‘super-heroines’ like Xena, Warrior Princess or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or even those women who go into combat overseas. They are not overtly sexually liberated either, but for the post-Victorian time period in which she wrote, each character does display, respectively, the great desire for independence, individual happiness, and sensitivity to her own emotions. It is not surprising that Wharton wrote from a male narrator’s point of view in her early stories, yet focusing always on the female protagonist. The earliest story, “The Pelican”, written in 1898, concerns a Mrs. Amyot, who came from an ancestry of female intellectuals, and although she didn’t possess their high intelligence, still pursued a career as a lecturer, at first with some trepidation, but later with great confidence and success. The male narrator followed her through the years, observing that she experienced great success abroad and in America. She had been left a widow with a small child, and always told people that she
Cited: 1). “The Pelican”, by Edith Wharton, Scribners’ Magazine 24, Nov. 1898, University of Virginia Library, hettp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=WhatPeli.sgm&imag 2). “The Line of Least Resistance” by Edith Wharton, 1900, University of Virginia Library, http://xtf.lib.virginia.ed/xtf/view?docid=modern_english/uvaGenText/tel/WaLine.xmi:&chunk.id 3). “The Other Two”, by Edith Wharton, 1904, http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/Ubooks?othTwo.shtml 4). “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton, 1934, http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/ewharton/bl-ewhar-roman.htm