In “The Other Two,” Wharton satirizes possessive upper-class men who view themselves as superior to their wives. Despite the fact that Waythorn in the protagonist of the story, he isn’t a very likable character. Even at the beginning of the story, when Waythorn is in love with Alice and constantly complimenting her, his compliments are centered on the ways that she makes his life easier. For example, when her daughter is very sick with typhoid, Alice acts completely composed (not even shedding a tear), and Waythorn reflects adoringly on Alice's “unperturbed gaiety” rather than feeling concerned that she is not letting her true feelings show.
Wharton’s satirical intentions become even more clear later in the story as Waythorn begins to grow frustrated with Alice’s deferential relationships with her ex-husbands. The irony, of course, is that, while he can enjoy his wife’s emotional stability, no one else should be allowed to. In one particularly satirical moment, Waythorn reflects woefully on the fact that Alice was not in an abusive relationship with Haskett, the way that he imagined her to be:
It was a pity for Waythorn’s peace of mind that Haskett’s very inoffensiveness shed a new light on the nature of those illusions. A man would rather think that his wife has been brutalized by her first husband than that the process has been reversed.
Here, Waythorn (via the narrator) reflects on how he “would rather think that his wife has been brutalized” by Haskett and therefore be a victim he could save than think that she had left him because she wanted a relationship that offered her more financial stability and social status. Passages like this make it clear that Wharton is pointing out the absurd and damaging nature of powerful men’s sense of superiority (and ownership) over their wives.
