Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Sister Competition-- Bunner Sisters
What I find intriguing about part one of Bunner Sisters is the very unspoken competition between Ann Eliza and Evelina. And it is renewed (because the mention of "The Sunday School Teacher" hints that it has happened before) by the appearance of Mr. Ramy. The two sisters clearly care for each other and Ann Eliza seems to have Evelina's best interests at heart-- which is why she doesn't express her attraction to Mr. Ramy. Evelina has this quality of stereotypical feminine wiles which she uses to attract Mr. Ramy. It seems as if Wharton also uses these qualities to make Evelina a bit of an antagonist to Ann Eliza. Ann Eliza is given more background and three dimensionality at this point, so I want to sympathize with her more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I felt the same way about sympathizing with Ann Eliza more, even more so at the end when she selflessly decides to let her sister pursue Mr. Ramy without competition. Evelina comes off as more selfish, being generally unsatisfied, and kind of fake, putting on a front for Mr. Ramy and even a different voice for company.
ReplyDelete