The Other Two...

           The Other Two by Edith Wharton, was another I've enjoyed reading so far.  Newly married, Waythorn encounters Alice's first husband, Mr. Haskett, who wants to visit his sick daughter in their household.  Waythorn also runs into Varick, another of Alice's ex-husbands, and has to do business with him.  Throughout the story, Waythorn struggles with the thought of these two men being his is wife's past, and now back into their lives again, thank goodness for different reasons though!, and struggles with the doubts he is now questioning with his wife.  The two men become a constant visitor into Mr. Waythorn's life, through business and his home life.  This rises a struggle within himself.
            Although this would be very stressful to be in his situation, considering no one likes run-ins with their love's ex's, that's just human!, but it does happen for reasons which they cannot control.  Mr. Haskett has a daughter, Lily, with Alice, and she has become very ill, and he has every right to see his daughter.  Since she usually goes to visit him, she cannot do that now, and this requires Mr. Haskett to visit her in their home... extremely uncomfortable and not something anyone wants to deal with by any means, but necessary and understandable.  Next, is Varick.  He was Alice's second, and most recent ex-husband, and also a business man within Waythorn's business, requiring him to work with him.  So not only does he have to deal with a man being in his home, when he goes to work, he has to deal with this also.  Is this woman worth this?  I vote yes.  If Waythorn really loves his wife, regardless of being newly wed, anyone would probably arise doubts and question their lives/marriages, but he should step back and view this from a distance.  They weren't there to harm nor interfere into their lives/relationships, rather were just there merely by coincidence and at the wrong time in the newly wed lives together!  Business is business, and hopefully when all is done and when what is needed to be taken care of, is taken care of, then hopefully he will not have to encounter Varick any longer.  And Mr. Haskett was there merely for the sake of his sick daughter, which any good father should be... can't blame a man for simply being there for his daughter!!  Can't say that about many people and their kids these days!! Boy, has the times changed!!  Needless to say, as long as these men aren't interfering and causing problems, then move it along!!  Yes awkward, but that's human nature.  Him and his wife just need to stay communicated on Mr. Haskett's visits to her/their daughter.  But the ending is kind of funny... all of them together in the same room smoking cigars together... ironic :)

Trifles...

          Trifles, a short play written by Susan Glaspell, was very interesting, which made it an easy read for me.  In the story, the County Attorney, the Sheriff and his wife, and the Hale neighbors are all gathered in the kitchen of the now abandoned farmhouse of Mr. and Mrs. John Wright.  They are all there for the investigation of the sudden and unknown death of Mr. Wright and to find out who killed him... Hopefully everyone has read the story, so for me to give the entire plot would just be silly.
          Mrs. Wright was clearly unhappy.  Mrs. Hale even said it was very unhappy/unpleasant to go over there, which is why she never did.  Not to mention, while they are there, the house is a disaster, everything is unclean and out of place, in the middle of her knitting a blanket, it starts out good then goes sour, like she was nervous about something, and then they find a dead strangled bird wrapped and hidden in her sewing box!!  I'm not too sure if it's just me and I am missing something with this, but I'm uncertain as to why Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters failed to give out the information they found while searching through the house concerning the blanket she was knitting and the dead bird.  The blanket she was knitting started out very neat and wonderful, but as she continued, the knitting started to go down-hill, it started to get bad.  This could be a very strong indicator as to what else happened in the story regarding the unknown death of her husband, which she claims to have "slept through".  The other is the dead bird, which also had marks on it's neck, like it had also been strangled, just as her husband had been when he died.  The ladies found these things while searching through Mrs. Wright's things, yet failed to inform the gentlemen investigating this situation about these important pieces of information... but why?? They didn't know her, why would they keep this a secret and possibly protect her from not telling them??
              pg 1976 - County Attorney:  No, Peters, it's all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it.  But you know juries when it comes to women.  If there was some definite thing.  Something to show--something to make a story about--a thing that would connect up with this strange way of doing it.  [The women's eyes meet for an instant...]
             Why they didn't tell them, just doesn't make any sense to me... but that's just what I see.

rachael.

this is my blog.