Oxford (The Long Run)

Oxford is a world-leading centre of learning, teaching and research and the oldest university in the English-speaking world (University of Oxford).

According to the Oxford homepage, there is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.

Already in 1190 overseas students were accepted at Oxford and the first known overseas student Emo of Friesland set in motion the University’s tradition of international scholarly links (University of Oxford).

Women were first allowed to study at the University of Oxford in 1920.

In the short story, unlike the narrator, Halston Merrick went to Oxford two more years after he studied at Harvard. That is, he could afford to travel to England and study there for two more years. As Oxford is one of the most famous in England, this underlines how educated Halston Merrick was. Not only that he visited Harvard but also Oxford. Edith Wharton used these two universities very clever in her short story. Having studied at these two universities makes it easy for the reader to believe that Halston was very smart and educated and one does not doubt the fact that Halston could have had an aspiring career outside the Merrick Iron Foundry.

Sources:

• University of Oxford. “About the University of Oxford.” University of Oxford. 2019. Web. 05. Nov. 2019. <http://www.ox.ac.uk/about>