Edith Wharton's Summer

      I am not completely sure as to what Wharton was trying to say with this story and quite frankly I was completely disappointed with the ending.
     One thing that I did notice was that the main character's name was 'Charity.'  I wonder if this was meant to symbolize the  charity that Mr. Royall showed when he took the child from the mountains in an attempt to give her a better life. Another thing I noticed was the name Mr. 'Royall.'  It appears to me that the name is to represent a kind of King of the town, which is precisely what Mr. Royall was.  I think Wharton used these two names to represent that those with power, namely the royals, are always doing charity work.  At least that is one way of looking at it; she may have had something else in mind.  Any thoughts?
     I kind of felt that Mr. Royall was a bit of a pervert, especially since Charity was like his own child.  When you take a child in at 5 years old and raise them, they are basically your child, so his wanting to marry her and be with her was a bit creepy for my taste.  However, I do realize that during this time period, there was probably nothing creepy about it, since she was not of his blood.  And at some points in the story, I actually felt a bit sorry for the man, considering how horrible she treated him.
     I don't think that Charity was as strong or as in control as she was made out to be.  The fact that she was quick to fall for a man she really knew nothing about and how she did as he told her, said that she really had no control.  I also thought this when she was dealing with Mr.Royall since she was quick to follow his instruction of coming in and speaking with him or getting into the buggy towards the end of the story, which showed that she had no real control over her life.  This lack of control was really evident when she consistently spoke of the need to run away from her problems.  A strong person would not run away, but would stand their ground and find a way to resolve their problems.
     I did like Harney at first.  However, I thought it was really crappy that he did not tell her of his engagement.  To a young woman or even one later in years, this betrayal can be devastating.  I think that the way she dealt with this betrayal was interesting, because it made me think that she was not truly in love with the man.  To let someone off the hook by saying do what is right, seems to suggest that to her he was simply a fling.  And maybe that was the point.
     Still in the end, I so wanted Harney to show up and tell her he loved her and to marry her (especially since she was carrying his child of which she did not tell him), but that did not happen.  Plus I really did not like how she ended the story with Charity married to Mr. Royall (no real surprise) and them returning to the red house of which they shared.  It left me hanging, so I felt kind of ripped off, because I did not get the ending I needed.  Maybe too, this was Wharton's way of saying you figure out the real ending and think for yourself.