Cusstom of The Country by Edith Wharton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cusstom of The Country by Edith Wharton - Essay Example The force and power of Wharton's words is felt throughout the book. In the last chapter, Paul Marvell, home for Easter, finds himself completely alone in the huge 'museum-like' hotel that is to be his home. The descriptions of the rooms with their empty splendor and that of the library with its untouched volumes, is gripping. The reader cannot miss the empathy that Paul feels with Vandyke's Grey Boy with his face "infinitely noble and charming, and yet (in spite of the dog) so sad and lonely that he too might have come home that very day to a strange house in which none of his old things could be found" (Chapter 46). With a few well chosen adjectives and phrases - "the white fur rugs and brocade chairs seemed maliciously on the watch for smears and ink-spots" (Chapter 46), "none of the new servants--they were always new" (Chapter 46), "massive unused inkstands and immense immaculate blotters; not a single volume had slipped its golden prison" (Chapter 46), Wharton has made the very l oneliness the boy feels to emanate from the book and grip the reader. In the scene where the Spragg family gathers for breakfast, Wharton describes the settings superbly.