Part One Discussion of 'Summer' by Edith Wharton
I'm so glad we're reading Wharton this summer! Let's discuss Part One.
Don’t you love when a book opens and it’s set at exactly the time of year in which you are reading? I swear I didn’t even pick Summer for June for this reason—it just worked out perfectly!
“It was the beginning of a June afternoon. The spring-like transparent sky shed a rain of silver sunshine on the roofs of the village and on the pastures and larchwoods surrounding it. A little wind moved among the round white clouds on the shoulders of the hills, driving their shadows across the fields and down the grassy road that takes the name of the street when it passes through North Dormer” (3).
Goodness, I love Edith Wharton’s writing. There is so much for us to discuss! In this reading guide, you will find brief plot summaries, selected quotes, and discussion questions. I’ve written the questions for us to use as a launching point, but please bring anything you want to discuss to the comments.
Chapters 1-2
In Chapter One, we meet our protagonist, and through her eyes we get a detailed picture of the setting. Charity compares North Dormer (empty, blue collar, small, “drudgery,” disconnected, old, lonely) with Nettleton (railways, shops with display windows, desserts, theater, crowds), then we get another stratification: the mountain. “Compared to the place she had come from, North Dormer represented all the blessings of the most refined civilization” (5). We also witness the meet cute between Charity and Lucius Harney, who is visiting his cousin Miss Hatchard. Charity realizes that Lucius finds her attractive, but she also sees the distance between their education and status.
In Chapter Two, we meet Lawyer Royall, Charity’s father figure who brought her down from the mountain. He is the “biggest man” in North Dormer, but Charity rules the house. They are both lonely, and after Lawyer’s wife dies, and Charity comes of age, he makes an advance towards her. She rebuffs him, humiliates him, and he amends his ways. They have a fascinating power dynamic.
“She was blind and insensible to many things, and dimly knew it, but to all that was light and air, perfume and colour, every drop of blood in her responded. She loved the roughness of the dry mountain grass under her palms, the smell of thyme into which she crushed her face, the fingering of the wind in her hair and through her cotton blouse, and the creak of the larches as they swayed to it” (10).
Wharton refers to Charity as “the girl” in these early scenes, why do you think she makes this choice?
“How I hate everything!” Charity exclaims. She is dissatisfied with her life while everyone around her tells her to be grateful. What do you think of her character so far?
The library is referred to as both “prison house” and “temple of knowledge.” I was fascinated by this contrast, and how the library seems to serve a symbolic purpose in this novel. Do you have any ideas about what Wharton is trying to say here?
