studiomut

** spoiler alert ** I realize many people are complaining that they were expecting this book to be more "erotic", based on the description. Granted, it definitely wasn't the most erotic book I've ever read, but I think it helps to consider the context in which it was written. This book was written in 1917, almost 100 years ago, and given the social values of the time, and the difference in what was considered "shocking" or "scandalous" then, as opposed to now, I'd say this probably was pretty cutting edge for the time. The plot revolves around a young woman, Charity Royall, who lives in a small town in rural New England with her guardian, Lawyer Royall, one of the most important men in town, who, along with his wife (who is now deceased), brought Charity "down from the Mountain", (a poor settlement of drinkers, prostitutes, and ne'er-do-wells that is looked down upon by the people in the neighboring towns) when she was five. When she was seventeen, a drunken Mr. Royall tries to come into her room, presumably seeking sex, which prompts her to get a job at the local library, where she meets Lucius Harney, a young man from the "big city", who is a the cousin of one of her neighbors. They begin a friendship, which then turns into an affair. Mr. Royall does not approve of their relationship and offers to speak with Harney in order to get him to ask Charity to marry him. After Charity refuses to agree to this, Mr. Royall then asks her to marry him on two different occasions. Charity decines. After Charity finds out that Harney is actually engaged to another girl, Miss Balch, whom Charity envies and has always viewed as a competitor, she finds out that she, Charity, is pregnant. She decides not to tell Harney and, even though he has promised to "take care of some things" (break off his engagement) and then come back and marry Charity. Charity then writes him a letter telling him to do the right thing and go on with his engagement and marriage to Miss Balch. When Charity finds out she is pregnant, she makes the decision to go back up to the Mountain and look up her mother. She also decides she will keep her baby and do whatever it takes, even if that means becoming a prostitute, to take care of her child. On her way to the mountain, she runs in to the preacher, who is going up to the Mountain because Charity's mother is dying. She gets a ride with him, but her mother has already died when she arrives. She stays the night up on the Mountain and decides that she is not going to stay there. When she leaves the next day, she encounters Mr. Royall, who has come looking for her. He again asks her to marry him, and this time she consents. She realizes that he knows she is pregnant, which is why he asks her to marry him. They go to a nearby town and get married, after which they return home to resume their lives. Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I never did grow to like the character of Charity, who seemed to be a spoiled, stubborn, and just generally unlikeable character. Perhaps if the novel had been longer, and Wharton had developed the characters more in depth, I would have, but this was not the case. You definitely have to keep the context of the time in which this novel was written in mind when reading it, since societal values and what was considered "taboo" in 1917 is so different from what is considered "taboo" in 2011.

2022-10-06 00:47