The Custom of the Country: Chapter 45 Summary & Analysis

Elmer’s hotel room contains many ostentatious signs of wealth, like Greek marble. Undine repeats that Elmer must not send her away, then says that things are going so wrong in her life. She asks him if he remembers strolling down Main Street in Apex with her. Elmer seems nostalgic but insists he really must get back home.

Undine asks Elmer if he ever misses her, and he says he does. She replies that being with him was the only time she really cared about in her life. She asks if Elmer has another woman, and he says he’s too busy for anything like that. Undine says she and Elmer should do as they please together—after all, a marriage is just a business contract, even if some Europeans fail to see it that way.

Elmer says he doesn’t want to just have an affair with Undine. He knows what it’s like to be an outcast from back when he lived in Apex, which is how he’d end up again if news of their affair got out. If Undine wants him, she’ll have to become his wife again. He formally proposes to her. Undine hesitates. She says she’s Catholic and would prefer to just be friends at first, then later maybe work up to more than that. Elmer says he already has places he can go if he wants a causal relationship.

Undine and Elmer seem to be at an impasse, with Elmer insisting that he’ll go back to the United States if Undine doesn’t marry him, while Undine wants to make him stay without marrying him. Elmer says Undine doesn’t have the courage to do what she should really do: come back with him. Undine protests again that she’s Catholic, but Elmer points out that she was born Baptist. If she comes back to America, she can get an American divorce and forget all about European marriage customs. Undine can’t come up with a counterargument. Elmer gives the date he’s leaving and says he’ll need a yes or no answer before then.