Wall Street (The Long Run)

Wall Street is the name of a street that crosses the New York financial district (Stiller). The Stock Exchange is located there, which is one of the most important Stock Exchanges in the world (Stiller). But “Wall Street” is not just a street name: it is also the general term for the economic “heart” of America – the financial centre of New York (Stiller).

On Wall Street, securities are traded, and there is also the COMEX (commodity exchange) (Stiller). The internationally important Dow Jones Index is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Stiller). The New York Stock Exchange was established around 1792 (Stiller).

The Wall, to which the street name refers, was once built by the residents of New Amsterdam as a dividing line to the Indian area (Stiller).

In the short story “The Long Run”, Wall Street does not play a big role. It is only mentioned once in connection with Philip Trant’s decision to leave New York:

A discerning doctor recommended travel in a warm climate; and suddenly, the morning paper, the afternoon club, Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, all the complex phenomena of the metropolis, faded into insignificance, and the rest of the terrestrial globe, from being a mere geographical hypothesis, useful in enabling one to determine the latitude of New York, acquired reality and magnitude as a factor in the convalescence of Mr. Philip Trant (Wharton 311).

The reader does not know, if Philip Trant is working on Wall Street or if he is just interested in finances. However, Wall Street cannot hold him from leaving New York, although everyone he knows had never thought this.

Sources:

• Stiller, Gudrun Dipl.-Kfr. Dr. “Wall Street.“ Wirtschaftslexikon24.com. 2017. Web. 05. Nov. 2019. <http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.com/d/wall-street/wall-street.htm>

• Wharton, Edith. “The Long Run.” The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. Volume II. Ed. Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis. New York: A Charles Scribner´s Sons Book Macmillan Publishing Company, 1989. 301-324. Print.