Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Other Two, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Etiquette and Illusions
Marriage and Gender Inequality
Social Advancement
Summary
Analysis
Waythorn, a businessman in his mid-thirties, waits before the hearth for his wife, Mrs. Alice Waythorn, to come downstairs for dinner. They Waythorns are newlyweds, and Mr. Waythorn waits gleefully for Alice to arrive, “surprised at his thrill of boyish agitation.” The couple has just returned to their New York City home from their honeymoon. The trip was cut short by the sudden illness of Alice’s child from a previous marriage, Lily Haskett. At the story’s beginning, Mrs. Waythorn is upstairs tending to her sick child.
Wharton sets the stage for the tensions that will present themselves as the story unfolds. Waythorn is in his mid-thirties—somewhat old for a first marriage, Waythorn observes that he is “surprised” at his juvenile excitement because he would like to see himself as a grown, composed man. Mrs. Waythorn, too, bears the marks of age and experience: she has been married at least once before, and has the baggage to prove it—another man’s child. Of note, as well, is that the story opens in the Waythorn home. Wharton’s choice to begin in this space foreshadows the symbolic significance that the home holds for Waythorn.
Themes
Literary Devices
Alice allows herself only “a moment of alarm” to register that her child is ill with typhoid, after which she immediately composes herself. Waythorn remarks that “no woman ever wasted less tissue in unproductive worry.” He admires his wife’s calm disposition, stating that Alice’s “composure was restful to him.”
The reader is introduced to a crucial element of Alice’s personality—her polite calmness. Wharton juxtaposes an extremely upsetting situation (a gravely ill child) with Alice’s hyperbolically understated reaction (only “a moment of alarm”) to underscore and even criticize the extreme lengths to which Alice will go to appear polite and composed. The reader also sees how Waythorn responds to Alice’s calm mannerisms –he admires her manners and considers her temperament “restful.”
Themes
Literary Devices
As he waits, Waythorn continues to reflect on his new wife, turning his attention to her history. The reader learns that Alice has been married twice before: first, to Mr. Haskett, an out-of-towner from either Pittsburg or Utica (not much is known of Haskett), and later to Mr. Gus Varick, an upper-class New Yorker with decadent tastes and philandering habits. Though scandalous for the times, Alice’s two divorces are forgotten amidst her “undoubted connection with a socially reigning family,” as well as her esteemed social poise. Alice’s status and manners give her the social status and “recognition she coveted,” and when she was married to Varick, they were considered to be “the most popular couple in town.”
This section gives the reader background information on Alce life before her marriage to Mr. Waythorn. Wharton emphasizes how significantly Mrs. Waythorn’s manners contribute to her ability to be liked and respected in society: under normal circumstances, two divorces might have been scandalous enough to warrant social ostracism. But Mrs. Waythorn’s impeccable understanding of etiquette allows her to remain accepted and liked in her social circle. A secondary reason for society’s acceptance of the twice-divorced Mrs. Waythorn is the general mystery that surrounds her past. Because not much is known of Haskett or of the circumstances that led to the Haskett divorce, society—and Mr. Waythorn—is willing to give Alice the benefit of the doubt.
Themes
Literary Devices
Waythorn recalls that “people shook their heads over him” when they learned he planned to marry this two-time divorcee, but he “affirmed that he took the step with his eyes open.” Waythorn believes that society’s stigma against divorce is unreasonable, and he expresses his “amused confidence in his wife’s ability to justify herself.” Indeed, he is enamored of his wife, and believes that he’s “found refuge in a richer, warmer nature than his own.”
Alice is well liked, but her scandalous history of divorce is still seen as a problem by society. Waythorn shows how confidently he rejected the disapproval of his engagement to Mrs. Waythorn, stating that he “affirmed that he took the step with his eyes open.” He shakes his head at the antiquated societal stigma of divorce, instead expressing confidence in his wife’s ability to act on her own accord and in his own ability to love, without jealousy or embitterment, a woman with such substantial baggage.
Themes
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Mr. Waythorn’s pleasant thoughts are interrupted when Alice finally arrives downstairs. With a look of worry on her face, she relates that “something tiresome has happened.” She has received a letter from Mr. Haskett’s lawyer. Haskett has an arrangement to visit with his daughter once a week. Normally Lily would go to him, but owing to her sickness, Haskett finds it preferable that his visit with Lily takes place at the Waythorn home. Waythorn is visibly perturbed by the notion of Haskett intruding on his home, but he reluctantly agrees to allow it. He orders Alice to “try to forget about it,” and she obeys immediately, exclaiming, “How pretty everything is!”
Alice’s entrance coincides with the first sure sign of conflict in “The Other Two.” The problem of Haskett’s visit holds symbolic weight, as it involves a stranger intruding upon the sacred space of the home. Further, it puts Waythorn’s supposed lack of insecurity to the test. He might have disregarded society’s concerns when he married Mrs. Waythorn—but will he be able to remain unstirred if he comes face to face with Haskett? While before the issue of the ex-husbands was only a theoretical one, Haskett’s visit transforms it into a real concern. Lastly, Alice’s remark of “How pretty everything is!” in response to Waythorn’s order to forget Haskett’s visit emphasizes how readily Alice obeys Waythorn as her husband.
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