Journal Entry "The Other Two"

Stephen Greene

English 48B

January 26, 2011

Journal #, Wharton

 "...to ask himself if it were not better to own a third of a wife who knew how to make a man happy than a whole one who lacked opportunity to acquire the art.  For it was an art, and made up, like all others, of concessions, eliminations and embellishments; of lights judiciously thrown and shadows skillfully softened.  His wife knew exactly how to manage the lights, and he knew exactly to what training she owed her skill"(841).

 "In 1885, at 23 years of age, she married Edward (Teddy) Robbins Wharton, who was 12 years her senior. From a well-established Boston family, he was a sportsman and a gentleman of her social class and shared her love of travel, although they had little in common intellectually.^{[citation needed]} From the late 1880s until 1902, he suffered acute depression, and the couple ceased their extensive travel.^[2] At that time his depression manifested as a more serious disorder, after which they lived almost exclusively at The Mount, their estate designed by Edith Wharton. In 1908 her husband's mental state was determined to be incurable and she divorced him in 1913.^[2] In 1908 she began an affair with Morton Fullerton, a journalist for The Times, in whom she found an intellectual partner"(Edith Wharton, Wikipedia).

Waythorn is wondering to himself what it means to be married to a woman who is twice divorced.  He has just met both of her former husbands.  His boss is ill and Waythorn has to fill in for him, dealing with the business of Mr. Varick, his wife's second husband.  Her first husband, Mr. Haskett has come to see his daughter who lives with Waythorn and his wife, but is too sick to go see her father as before.  Now that Waythorn has met the two of them, her past is beginning to unravel, and the answers to some of the questions in Waythorn's head are hinted at.  He is contemplating on what it means to "own a third of a wife".


The first thing that struck me was his sense of ownership of his wife.  In today's world this would be a clear example of sexism and extreme misogyny, but in the contemporary society this was probably in line with the prevailing attitudes about marriage, gender, and sexuality.  If we hear his words with a more romantic tone to them, he is simply thinking natural things; does his wife still 'belong' to her ex-husbands?
He comes to the conclusion, whether he actually believes it or merely convinces himself for his own peace of mind is hard to say, that he can actually benefit from his wife's past.  It seems more likely that, in an attempt to justify, and find satisfaction in, his current situation he convinces himself that the result of his wife's divorces is that she has learned how to treat a man; he is happily, now this man.  These are natural ways for him to think about his wife.  There is disharmony in his mind as he thinks of her past lovers, and to restore harmony, he changes his attitude rather than behavior.  He stays with her, continuing their marriage at least for the time being, and begins to think about the situation differently.
The image of light and shadow as the medium for the art of performing in this hyper-rich 'high' society is far-reaching in its implications.  Light is clearly associated with 'good', in this case meaning socially acceptable behavior.  The shadows represent parts of her, parts of her past, and parts of their life together that do not fit into this highly conservative and judging society.  The art that she performs of "judiciously throwing" this light, this respectability and pose, while "skillfully soften[ing]" the shadows of her past is a delicate balancing act.  The presence of both the light and the shadow is telling.  Even in this strict social setting, there are shadows.  She is not, he is not, and in fact no one is just light.  Everyone seems to be some combination of the two, and it becomes how they show and cover, and what they choose to project or hide, that is the art of, in context, being his wife, but translated to a slightly larger scale, the performing art of surviving in this culture of class.