The Other Two

by

Edith Wharton

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Other Two makes teaching easy.

Mr. Gus Varick Character Analysis

Alice’s second husband. He is considered a gentleman and is a very popular member of the Waythorns’ high-class social circle. Varick’s marriage to Alice was “brief and stormy,” and it is implied that Varick is a womanizer. Varick is a client of Mr. Sellers, a senior partner at Mr. Waythorns’ workplace, and enters into the Waythorns’ lives when Sellers falls ill and Waythorn is forced to negotiate a business deal for him. Alice takes pleasure in talking to Varick. Mr. Waythorn accepts Varick out of professional and propriety obligation, but remains inwardly resentful and guarded in their social interactions.

Mr. Gus Varick Quotes in The Other Two

The The Other Two quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Gus Varick or refer to Mr. Gus Varick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Etiquette and Illusions Theme Icon
).
Part II Quotes

What was he thinking of—only the flavour of the coffee and the liqueur? Had the morning’s meeting left no more trace in his thoughts than on his face? Had his wife so completely passed out of his life that even this odd encounter with her present husband, within a week after her remarriage, was no more than an incident in his day?

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV Quotes

She was ‘as easy as an old shoe’ —a shoe that too many feet had worn. Her elasticity was the result of tension in too many different directions. Alice Haskett—Alice Varick—Alice Waythorn—she had been each in turn, and had left hanging to each name a little of her privacy, a little of her personality, a little of the inmost self where the unknown god abides.

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick, Mr. Haskett
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Part V Quotes

He could have forgiven her for blunders, for excesses; for resisting Haskett, for yielding to Varick; for anything but her acquiescence and her tact.

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick, Mr. Haskett
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:

With grim irony Waythorn compared himself to a member of a syndicate. He held so many shares in his wife’s personality and his predecessors were his partners in the firm.

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick, Mr. Haskett
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mr. Gus Varick Quotes in The Other Two

The The Other Two quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Gus Varick or refer to Mr. Gus Varick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Etiquette and Illusions Theme Icon
).
Part II Quotes

What was he thinking of—only the flavour of the coffee and the liqueur? Had the morning’s meeting left no more trace in his thoughts than on his face? Had his wife so completely passed out of his life that even this odd encounter with her present husband, within a week after her remarriage, was no more than an incident in his day?

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV Quotes

She was ‘as easy as an old shoe’ —a shoe that too many feet had worn. Her elasticity was the result of tension in too many different directions. Alice Haskett—Alice Varick—Alice Waythorn—she had been each in turn, and had left hanging to each name a little of her privacy, a little of her personality, a little of the inmost self where the unknown god abides.

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick, Mr. Haskett
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Part V Quotes

He could have forgiven her for blunders, for excesses; for resisting Haskett, for yielding to Varick; for anything but her acquiescence and her tact.

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick, Mr. Haskett
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:

With grim irony Waythorn compared himself to a member of a syndicate. He held so many shares in his wife’s personality and his predecessors were his partners in the firm.

Related Characters: Mr. Waythorn, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, Mr. Gus Varick, Mr. Haskett
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis: