Schultz, Jane E.Smith, AlexGoldfarb, Nancy D.Johnson, Karen Ramsay2016-01-072016-01-072015-05-01https://hdl.handle.net/1805/7951http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/398Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Wharton’s heroines are ordinary women who fight to secure material comfort and create selves that satisfy their emotional and sexual needs. These women often find that the two goals are mutually exclusive, since society strictly dictates appropriate behavior. This code of behavior stems from their relation to men: as objects to be won, as wives, and as mothers. In many instances, women are not even aware of their prescriptive roles and confuse their search for self with a search for security. Material comfort does not nurture Wharton’s heroines’ inner selves and they feel a metaphysical dissatisfaction, often seeking to find contentment through divorce or affairs. What they find in either case is that the cure to their ennui is not material, but mental. Wharton’s women seek a transcendent self—a self that is not dependent upon popular notions of respectability; a spiritual state that is independent from any attachment to social imperatives.en-USEdith WhartonFeminismWomanhoodBunner SisterAutres TempsThe PretextSouls BelatedMother's ReccompenseWharton, Edith -- 1862-1937Man-woman relationshipsManners and customsWomen's rightsSex discrimination against womenSelf (Philosophy)Necessity (Philosophy)Authors, American -- 20th centuryWomen intellectuals -- United StatesThesis10.7912/C2NK53