Brant girl (The Pretext)

The Brant girl is a girl from New York used to describe a negative look and behavior.

The Brant girl is as well only described through a rather subjective view. She is described as “the horror of all right-thinking Wentworth” (Lewis, 1968, p. 635 - 36). With this first description given, the reader is already negatively influenced. Her external appearance ranges from “laced, whale-boned” to “frizzle-headed” and high-heeled” (Lewis, 1968, p. 636). Further, it is mentioned that she is a “daughter of iniquity” (Lewis, 1968, p. 636), what could mean that she is a descendant of an unmarried couple, what could be an absolute taboo considering the prudery and the importance of marriage predominating the short story or that she was conceived from incest like many descendants of the upper class of New York (Kornetta, 1996, p. 58). She sometimes visits her aunt Mrs. Sheff at Wentworth where she causes disturbance and turmoil and chaos among the freshmen of the University. After her departure the society of Wentworth is always in a disorder for weeks. As mentioned before the Brant girl has also tried to approach Guy Dawnish but without success (Lewis, 1968, p. 636). Moreover, she is not only used to describe bad behavior and looks, but also used as an example of rash or rather thoughtless answers (“It was just such a lead as the Brant girl might have given him.” (Lewis, 1968, p. 642)). She is also considered possible as a reason for the dissolving of the engagement of Gwendolen Matcher and Guy Dawnish but their ‘relationship’ cannot be described as unfortunate because “she would have jumped at him” (Lewis, 1968, p. 647).

The main comparison which is made with the Brant girl is that she is the embodiment of looking “’New Yorky!’” (Lewis, 1968, p. 636). According to Kornetta (1996, p. 60), in “The Pretext”, “New Yorky” could mean the later years of New York’s immigration and the people who came along with it with their bragging and their dissolute parties.

Sources:

Kornetta, R. (1996). Das Korsett im Kopf. Ehe und Ökonomie in den Kurzgeschichten Edith Whartons. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang GmbH.

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