The Other Two: Tells One Man's Journey of Discovery Regarding His Wife.

A detailed Summary of The Other Two: Tells One Man's Journey of Discovery Regarding His Wife.

"The Other Two," a story by Edith Wharton, tells one man's journey of discovery regarding his wife. At the beginning of the story, Mr. Waythorn has just returned from his honeymoon with his new wife, Alice. Alice is an unusual wife for the times because she has been divorced--not once but twice. Mr. Waythorn and his new wife have had to return from their honeymoon early because Alice's daughter, Lily, has fallen ill with typhoid. Lily's illness is the first of a series of events that clarify Waythorn's vision as he gets to know his new wife. The story's plot turns on Waythorn's changing views of Alice and culminates with his acceptance of her past based on a deeper understanding of Alice and the life events that have helped shape her.

Wharton's story flows naturally through time. The story is told through Waythorn's eyes, and at the beginning of the story we see him waiting with anticipation and pleasure for his new wife to join him for dinner. He sees himself as solid but boring, and feelsr rejuvenated in Alice's presence. Nothing seems to upset her or dampen her sparkling personality, which he sees as resiliency in the face of life's daily stresses.

Waythorn considers her previous marriages, and his thoughts about these marria

As Alice comes down for dinner at the beginning of the story, she is distressed that her first husband will be coming to their home to see Lily. She seems more upset about this than about Lily's illness, which is potentially life-threatening. Waythorn interprets this as resiliency, not shallowness. On the very next day, Waythorn runs into Alice's second husband, Gus Varick, on the subway. That meeting contains hints that Varick is also going to re-enter their lives.

Alice does not change in this story, but Waythorn does. As the reader sees him travel down the road that leads him to understanding the woman he is married, his name stands out: the name Waythorn suggests that he is going to have to travel a thorny path. In marrying Alice, he has to accept all of who she is, and that includes some baggage in the form of ex-husbands. Waythorn assumed at the beginning of the story that these men would remain in the shadows, but that is not possible. Haskett will be in their lives because his daughter Lily lives with Waythorn and Alice. Waythorn and Gus Varick by necessity have a business relationship and move in the same social circles.

Waythorn's personal crisis develops because he gets to know both of Alice's previous husbands and finds both of them to be decent, likable men. Thus, Wharton's story does open with a crisis. However, the crisis is not Lily's illness but the fact that Lily's father will have to come to the Waythorn home to see his daughter because the child is ill.

ges reflect the divorce laws of the time. According to the law, one person had to be shown to be a "wronged party," a victim of the spouse's inability to behave as a satisfactory spouse. His wife has been married twice before: first to a man named Haskett, who is Lily's father, and then to a man named Gus Varick, an acquaintance of Waythorn's. Alice had married Haskett at a young age, and no one in their current circle of acquaintances knew him, making it easy for people to think badly of him. After her divorce from Varick, people concluded that Varick just wasn't a good candidate for marriage. Since A

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gus Varick, Alice Alice, Finally Waythorn, Waythorn Haskett, Waythorn's Alice, Waythorn Alice, Lily Waythorn's, Ironically Alice, Edith Wharton, beginning story, Haskett Lily's, previous husbands, lily's illness, wharton's story, gus varick, spouse haskett bad, ability cope, lily's father, spouse haskett, daughter lily, married haskett,

Approximate Word count = 1410
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English