Edith Wharton (1862-1937)Born in 1862, Edith Wharton was an extremely influential women in American literature. She was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Although she found great success in her literature, she also found joy in helping others. During World War 1, she stayed in Paris, France and set up many humanitarian organizations including workrooms for unemployed seamstresses, homes for refugees, homes for tuberculosis patients, and schools for children. In 1901, she purchased a 113 acre property known today as "The Mount". Edith designed every detail of the home herself, down to the gardens. She is even quoted saying, “I am amazed at the success of my efforts. Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than novelist," The Mount can be seen today by tourists in Lenox, Massachusetts. (Edith Wharton Website)
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The Captivity of Pauline Manford
In the novel Twilight Sleep, Pauline Manford is extremely important to evaluate as a character in captivity. Pauline is often described as the leader, or keynote speaker in several organizations throughout the story. During the time of the novel, Pauline would definitely be regarded as a powerful woman because of her ability to hold positions of power. In this way, it would be easy to say that Pauline is not held captive in any way. However, from the first page of the novel, Pauline's planner is explained, and in this planner, everything down to her emotions are scheduled at 10-15 minute intervals. Pauline is so concerned with keeping her outward display of emotion to a minimum, that she plans alone time throughout the day to release any emotions she may be feeling in order to keep herself filtered in public. Because of this, Pauline is a character that is controlled by her society. If Pauline were to show any emotion that might be considered dramatic or out of place, she would definitely be seen as a weaker character, and could possibly suffer severe embarrassment from this type of incident. Pauline is so concerned with staying on her schedule, that she will only see her daughter by appointment. Through the character of Pauline, we see that captivity can take place through the expectations of society, and can affect even the most seemingly powerful of people.