Edith Wharton’s novel, Summer, headed the literary, feminine, sexual revolution of the 1920s. Summer was published in 1917 and remains Wharton’s most sexually explicit novel, showcasing Charity Royall, the main character, sexually awakening and in love as a stranger to the rural North Dormer enters into her life. Charity’s life description leaves the reader a sense of greyness and boredom in her tired life of living in the “red house” and working in a dingy library. As Charity finds herself stuck in North Dormer between two places, the prosperous Nettelton and the lawless Mountain, she also finds herself stuck between two men, young Lucius Harney and her guardian Mr. Royall. Looking at Summer through a psychological reading, Charity’s actions …show more content…
Her mother fell in love with a man from the Mountain and moves from Nettelton, a prosperous outside city to the Mountain, a lawless place on the other side of North Dormer, where her husband ends up committing man-slaughter (Wharton 46.) Royall, answering a request of a friend, ends up bringing Charity down to North Dormer after the death of her father and the willingness of her mother to give her up (Wharton 45.) Royall and his wife christened Charity, leaving a mark of dependence and underscoring the “charity” as oppose to love that brought her down (Wharton 3.) Her christened “Charity” adds a Christian virtue and idea to Mr. Royall’s actions, as well as adding a “becoming sense of dependence,” as the novel puts it (Rutland.) As Mrs. Royall died early on, Charity spent the majority of her formative years in the red house with Royall who remained emotionally distance, abused alcohol, and exuded loneliness. Charity finished school and remained in North Dormer as oppose to continuing on to boarding school because of that loneliness that she felt in Royall (Wharton 13.) That was the last time for a long time she felt any tenderness towards …show more content…
Parental rejection is defined as a significant withdrawal of parental warmth, affection, care, comfort, concern, nurturance, support, love, and presence both physically and psychologically (Dawlry.) The four types of parental rejection are cold and unaffectionate, hostile and aggressive, indifferent and neglecting, and undifferentiated rejecting (Dawlry.) Charity’s mother cannot even fall under any of these types, as her rejection is one of absolute absence. However, the effect of this absence manifests differently than that of a deceased parent, because the fact of her present life remains to underscore the complete parental rejection. The death of Royall’s wife, it appears, had little effect on Charity and finds no classification under parental rejection. However, Royall’s physical presence, but absent emotional affirmation fulfills a number of the types of parental rejection. Though Royall is not Charity’s biological or adopted father, he is the age of a father and her complete caretaker the vast majority of her life. His role is one of a guardian, and even one of a father. His demeanor remains cold and unaffectionate as well as, at times, hostile and aggressive (Wharton 100.) He even exhibits indifferent and neglecting tendencies in his drunken states or absences from the