Edith Wharton
I am Gerty Farish incarnate.
After literally every sentence about her, I thought, "Edith Wharton is a time traveler who stalked me and modeled Gerty Farish after me."
Hah! I knew I would be able to use it again!
Those few of you who might be reading this are probably asking yourselves, "How could he think such things?" Allow me to illuminate you.
In earlier parts of the book, Gerty is described as someone who tends to be rather reclusive and passive when it comes to social situations. While that description can apply to me fairly seamlessly (seeing as I've done little else but these blogs this summer), the insights into Gerty's persona and motives were so accurate of me I was disturbed.
First came the incident that involved Gerty's decision to despise Selden and Lily. Once Gerty realized that Selden came to dinner not for Gerty, but to learn more about Lily, Gerty felt used and unbearable. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the same way when people use me as a text book. Then, when the very person who had used her and made her feel so worthless came to her door looking for help, she set aside her angst and helped her. Both Gerty and I feel a great sense of worth in being the person people turn to for help.
In this section specifically, a quote seemed so familiar to me I could have been the originator: "... but she has never come, and I don't like to go to her because I am afraid of forcing myself on her when I'm not wanted" (Wharton, 220). Even though she plays such a passive role, Gerty is still a major character who attempts to teach Lily the lessons Wharton wishes to teach us. This brings up a lesson I hope anybody reading this book and/or my blog will learn. Just because people tend to wallow in the fringes does not indicate that they do not care for others; it means only that they care so little for themselves that they believe it a service to spare others of their presence. I have never related to a character as completely as I have to Gerty Farish and I have never witnessed a theme in a novel as applicable to my life as this.
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