Setter (The Pretext)

The “couple of setters” (Lewis, 1968, p. 637) appear as well on a photograph Guy Dawnish showed to Mrs. Margaret Ransom. The two setters are at Lord Askern’s feet. A Setter is “a large dog with long hair, sometimes used in hunting” (Hornby, 2015, p. 1417). Because Lord Askern has “a gun on his shoulder” (Lewis, 1968, p. 637) it is rather plausible that he used the dogs for hunting. A setter is a very athletic and agile dog. A mature setter can be between 61 and 68 centimeters high, it can weigh up to 30 kilos and their fur can have different colors. The setter is a perfect hunting dog because it is able to run fast and has an extraordinary sensitive sense of smell. The name setter comes from his movement (English Setter, 2021). When a setter sees its prey, it stands still and lifts its front leg (Die Vorstehhaltung - immer auf‘m Sprung, Beck, 2013).

Edith Wharton probably mentioned a dog in her story because she loved dogs and owned many of them during her lifetime (Wright, 1998, p. 41). In her autobiography “A Backward Glance” (1964) she mentions that her first dog, Foxy, made her “into a conscious sentient person” (p. 4). She loved him so much that when she traveled to Europe and Foxy did not come with her, she was so sad that her parents gave her a new puppy to calm her down (Wharton, 1964, p. 41). Furthermore, Edith Wharton “supported animal advocacy groups” (Singley, 2003, p. 239).

Sources:

Hornby, A. S. (2015). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lewis, R. W. B. (1968). The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Singley, C. J. (Ed.) (2003). A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wharton, E. (1964). A Backward Glance. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Wright, S. B. (1998). Edith Wharton A to Z: The Essential Guide to the Life and Work. New York: Facts on File.

“Die Vorstehhaltung - immer auf’m Sprung”. Gudrun Beck, 1985 - 2013, http://buch.hunde.com/hundebuch/verhalten/was-hunde-sagen/die-vorstehhaltung/. Accessed May 16, 2021.

“English Setter”. zooplus Magazin, 2021, https://www.zooplus.de/magazin/hund/hunderassen/english-setter. Accessed May 15, 2021.