Article #166-2 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from Summer, by Edith Wharton

The young man had passed through the Hatchard gate, and she had the
street to herself. North Dormer is at all times an empty place, and at
three o'clock on a June afternoon its few able-bodied men are off in
the fields or woods, and the women indoors, engaged in languid household
drudgery.

The girl walked along, swinging her key on a finger, and looking about
her with the heightened attention produced by the presence of a stranger
in a familiar place. What, she wondered, did North Dormer look like to
people from other parts of the world? She herself had lived there
since the age of five, and had long supposed it to be a place of some
importance. But about a year before, Mr. Miles, the new Episcopal
clergyman at Hepburn, who drove over every other Sunday--when the roads
were not ploughed up by hauling--to hold a service in the North Dormer
church, had proposed, in a fit of missionary zeal, to take the young
people down to Nettleton to hear an illustrated lecture on the Holy
Land; and the dozen girls and boys who represented the future of North
Dormer had been piled into a farm-waggon, driven over the hills to
Hepburn, put into a way-train and carried to Nettleton.

In the course of that incredible day Charity Royall had, for the first
and only time, experienced railway-travel, looked into shops with
plate-glass fronts, tasted cocoanut pie, sat in a theatre, and listened
to a gentleman saying unintelligible things before pictures that she
would have enjoyed looking at if his explanations had not prevented her
from understanding them. This initiation had shown her that North Dormer
was a small place, and developed in her a thirst for information that
her position as custodian of the village library had previously failed
to excite. For a month or two she dipped feverishly and disconnectedly
into the dusty volumes of the Hatchard Memorial Library; then the
impression of Nettleton began to fade, and she found it easier to take
North Dormer as the norm of the universe than to go on reading.

Explanation

**Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt from Summer by Edith Wharton**

Context of the Novel

Summer (1917) is a novella by Edith Wharton, often considered a companion piece to her more famous Ethan Frome (1911). Both works explore themes of rural isolation, repressed desire, and the stifling constraints of small-town life in early 20th-century New England. Unlike Ethan Frome, which is set in the bleak winter landscape of Starkfield, Massachusetts, Summer unfolds in the seemingly idyllic but equally oppressive setting of North Dormer, a decaying mountain village.

The protagonist, Charity Royall, is an orphan raised by a stern and morally rigid lawyer, Mr. Royall, who rescued her from a disreputable background (later revealed to involve her mother’s scandalous past). The novel follows Charity’s awakening to love, sexuality, and the limitations of her environment when a young architect, Lucius Harney, arrives in North Dormer. The excerpt provided introduces Charity’s perspective on her isolated world and her first glimpses of life beyond it.

Analysis of the Excerpt

1. Setting and Atmosphere

The passage opens with a stark depiction of North Dormer’s emptiness and stagnation:

"North Dormer is at all times an empty place, and at three o'clock on a June afternoon its few able-bodied men are off in the fields or woods, and the women indoors, engaged in languid household drudgery."

Contrast between nature and human inertia: The time is June, suggesting warmth and vitality, yet the village is deserted—the men are laboring, the women are trapped in "languid drudgery." The natural beauty of summer contrasts with the social and emotional barrenness of the town.
Isolation as a prison: The absence of people reinforces Charity’s solitude. The fact that she has the street to herself after a stranger passes through suggests that outsiders are rare, making their presence disruptive and thought-provoking.

2. Charity’s Perspective and Self-Awareness

Charity’s walk through the village is not just physical but psychological:

"She walked along, swinging her key on a finger, and looking about her with the heightened attention produced by the presence of a stranger in a familiar place."

The key as a symbol: The key she swings may represent:
- Her role as the custodian of the Hatchard Memorial Library (a position that gives her limited authority but also traps her in the village).
- Her desire for unlocking new experiences—she is literally and metaphorically holding the key to knowledge but has not yet used it fully.
The stranger’s effect: The presence of an outsider makes her see North Dormer with fresh eyes, questioning its significance. This foreshadows her later disillusionment with the town when she encounters the wider world.

3. The Illusion of North Dormer’s Importance

Charity’s childhood assumption that North Dormer is a place of "some importance" is undermined by her single exposure to the outside world:

"But about a year before, Mr. Miles... had proposed... to take the young people down to Nettleton to hear an illustrated lecture on the Holy Land..."

The trip to Nettleton as a turning point: This excursion is Charity’s first and only experience of modernity—railway travel, shops, theater, and lectures. The description is both wondrous and overwhelming:
- "plate-glass fronts" (a symbol of urban sophistication)
- "cocoanut pie" (exotic compared to rural fare)
- "a gentleman saying unintelligible things" (her inability to fully grasp the lecture suggests the gap between her world and the intellectual/urban one)
The failure of the lecture: The gentleman’s explanations prevent her from understanding the pictures, highlighting how institutional knowledge (religion, education) can be alienating rather than enlightening.

4. The Fleeting Nature of Awakening

Charity’s brief intellectual curiosity is short-lived:

"For a month or two she dipped feverishly and disconnectedly into the dusty volumes of the Hatchard Memorial Library; then the impression of Nettleton began to fade, and she found it easier to take North Dormer as the norm of the universe than to go on reading."

The library as a false promise: The Hatchard Memorial Library (named after a benefactor, suggesting patronizing charity) is dusty and neglected, much like North Dormer itself. Charity’s attempt to educate herself is "feverish and disconnected"—she lacks guidance, structure, or real motivation.
The pull of complacency: She reverts to accepting North Dormer as "the norm" because resistance is exhausting. This reflects Wharton’s critique of how rural poverty and isolation stifle ambition.
Foreshadowing her later struggles: Her inability to sustain her curiosity hints at her passive acceptance of fate, which will later contrast with her brief, intense rebellion when she falls in love with Harney.

Key Themes in the Excerpt

Isolation vs. Experience
- North Dormer is physically and culturally cut off from the world. Charity’s one trip to Nettleton is both liberating and confusing, showing how limited exposure to the outside world can be overwhelming rather than empowering.
The Illusion of Knowledge and Progress
- The Hatchard Library represents the false promise of education—it is dusty, outdated, and ineffective. Charity’s attempt to learn is half-hearted because she has no real model for intellectual growth.
- The lecture on the Holy Land is incomprehensible, suggesting that religious and cultural institutions fail to enlighten those they claim to serve.
The Weight of Social Norms
- Charity’s brief curiosity fades because it is easier to conform than to challenge her environment. This reflects the oppressive nature of small-town life, where change is discouraged.
- Her key-swinging is a small act of defiance or restlessness, but it leads nowhere—symbolizing her trapped potential.
The Stranger as a Catalyst
- The young man’s passage through the gate disrupts her routine, making her question her surroundings. This foreshadows Lucius Harney’s arrival, which will awaken her desires but also lead to disillusionment.

Literary Devices

Symbolism
- The key: Represents access, potential, and imprisonment.
- The dusty library: Symbolizes stagnant knowledge and failed enlightenment.
- The plate-glass shop fronts: Represent modernity and consumerism, things Charity glimpses but cannot fully possess.
Irony
- Situational irony: North Dormer is small and insignificant, yet Charity once believed it was important.
- Dramatic irony: The reader recognizes that Charity’s brief curiosity will not lead to real change, while she briefly hopes it might.
Imagery
- Visual: The empty streets, the dusty books, the plate-glass shops—all create a contrast between rural decay and urban allure.
- Tactile: The swinging key gives a sense of movement and restlessness.
Foreshadowing
- Charity’s fleeting interest in the outside world hints at her later, more intense but doomed, rebellion when she falls in love with Harney.
- The stranger’s presence foreshadows Harney’s arrival, which will disrupt her life far more dramatically.

Significance of the Passage

This excerpt establishes the central conflict of Summer:

Charity’s internal struggle between acceptance of her fate and desire for something more.
The oppressive nature of North Dormer, which smothers ambition and punishes nonconformity.
The theme of failed awakening—Charity glimpses a larger world but lacks the means to escape it, setting up her tragic arc.

Wharton uses this moment to critique the limitations of rural America, particularly for young women, who are denied education, mobility, and agency. Charity’s story is ultimately one of wasted potential, a recurring theme in Wharton’s works, where social structures crush individual desire.

Conclusion

This passage is pivotal in understanding Charity’s character and the tragic trajectory of Summer. It reveals:

Her initial complacency and brief, aborted curiosity.
The stifling nature of North Dormer, which resists change.
The hint of rebellion that will later surface in her ill-fated affair with Harney.

Wharton’s sharp social observation and psychological depth make this more than just a description of a small town—it is a portrait of a young woman on the verge of self-discovery, yet already constrained by forces beyond her control.

Questions

Question 1

The passage suggests that Charity’s initial attempt to engage with the books in the Hatchard Memorial Library is best characterised by which of the following?

A. A disciplined pursuit of self-improvement, systematically addressing gaps in her knowledge.
B. A performative gesture intended to impress Mr. Miles and the other young people from Nettleton.
C. A nostalgic retreat into familiar texts that reinforce her attachment to North Dormer.
D. A spasmodic and unfocused reaction to a fleeting exposure to the world beyond her village.
E. A calculated effort to undermine the intellectual authority of the village’s religious institutions.

Question 2

The "unintelligible things" said by the gentleman during the lecture in Nettleton primarily serve to highlight:

A. the gulf between Charity’s rural, experiential framework and the abstract discourse of educated society.
B. the inherent incomprehensibility of religious doctrine when divorced from visual aids.
C. the condescension of urban intellectuals toward rural audiences untrained in critical thinking.
D. Charity’s latent intellectual capacity, which is stifled by the poor quality of the lecture.
E. the irrelevance of historical and geographical knowledge to the practical concerns of North Dormer’s inhabitants.

Question 3

The image of Charity "swinging her key on a finger" is most thematically resonant with which of the following ideas in the passage?

A. The performative nature of authority in a community where real power is concentrated in the hands of men like Mr. Royall.
B. The futility of attempting to unlock new opportunities in a place where all doors lead back to the same constraints.
C. The playful innocence of youth, contrasting with the grim realities of adulthood in North Dormer.
D. The literal responsibility she bears as custodian of the library, a role she resents but cannot escape.
E. The tension between potential and paralysis, as the key suggests both access and the failure to use it meaningfully.

Question 4

The passage implies that Charity’s eventual reversion to accepting North Dormer as "the norm of the universe" is primarily a result of:

A. a conscious rejection of the materialism and superficiality she observed in Nettleton.
B. the psychological exhaustion of sustaining a perspective that conflicts with her lived reality.
C. the lack of intellectual stimuli in the Hatchard Library, which fails to challenge her preconceptions.
D. a renewed sense of loyalty to her community, reinforced by the camaraderie of the trip.
E. the realisation that her social status as an orphan precludes her from aspiring to a different life.

Question 5

The narrator’s description of North Dormer as a place where "the women [are] indoors, engaged in languid household drudgery" functions most effectively to:

A. establish the economic necessity of gendered labour divisions in rural communities.
B. underscore the contrast between the vibrant potential of Charity’s youth and the stifling inertia of her environment.
C. critique the moral failings of the village’s men, who abandon domestic responsibilities to pursue leisure.
D. evoke sympathy for the women’s plight by emphasising the physical toll of their unceasing labour.
E. foreshadow Charity’s eventual resignation to a similar fate, despite her momentary aspirations.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: D

Why D is most correct: The passage explicitly states that Charity’s engagement with the library books follows her trip to Nettleton and is described as "feverishly and disconnectedly" dipping into the volumes. This phrasing conveys a lack of systematic approach ("disconnectedly") and a temporary, reactive quality ("feverishly"), aligning with "spasmodic and unfocused." The exposure to Nettleton is framed as a fleeting disruption ("the impression of Nettleton began to fade"), making D the most textually grounded choice.