Money (Afterward)

A common topic in Wharton’s ghost stories is the critique of the corrupt nouveau rich people and the decaying aristocracy. To understand this, one has to understand the time Wharton was living in. 1904-37 was the period in which she wrote her ghost stories. Middle-Class Americans reached out for wealth in order to be like the rich people of that time. It was a time when the wealth of prominent people inspired many Americans to acquire such wealth for themselves. In addition to that, the media was frequently working on exposing corruption. The exposed scandals and the muckraking crushed the traditional believe that wealth was a product of hard, ethical work, by showing how the rich people really earned their money. Furthermore, the gap between rich and poor widened and it was feared that the rich could potentially influence the government to turn America from a Democracy into a Plutocracy. This lead to labor unrests, populist reforms and finally to the economic crash in 1929 with the Depression following right afterward (Jacobsen 100-102).

Wharton was politically conservative and used her own wealth to build expensive houses, afford exotic trips or simply for her friends. She thoroughly enjoyed her class and race privileges. Just as with homosexuality, Wharton used her gothic stories to explore, talk and point at economic issues (Jacobsen 102). This can be directly linked to “Afterward” where Ned Boyne flees America because of his unethical business practices (Jacobsen 104).

Wharton's problem was not the wealth itself, but how it was earned. Greed, a lack of scruple and no business ethics. She obviously tries to defend the Old Money class and attempts to break the prejudice, that all rich people must be somewhat corrupt (Jacobsen 104).

In response to the exposed scandals, the capitalists argued in various ways, for example by describing the law of capitalism as just another way to ensure that only the fittest and best survive, essentially social Darwinism (Jacobsen 102-103). According to Jacobsen, the character Parvis represents the precise and efficient business practices that had no place for ethicality. He is a representative of the Social Darwinism that was used to defend the unethical gain of wealth. This becomes evident by taking a look at what Parvis says (Jacobsen 104):

“Bob Elwell wasn’t smart enough, that’s all; if he had been, he might have turned round and served Boyne the same way. It’s the kind of thing that happens every day in business. I guess it’s what the scientists call the survival of the fittest — see?” said Mr. Parvis, evidently pleased with the aptness of his analogy (Wharton 368).

Another important quote of Parvis is: “I don’t say it wasn’t straight, and yet don’t say it was straight. It was business.” (Wharton 367). This is Wharton’s way of pointing at the ethical grey area that she disliked. The business practices in America were ethical grey because what happened constantly was not against the law but wrong from an ethical point of view (Jacobsen 105).

The grey zone meant that the lack of business ethics made it hard for the wrongdoers to even realize that they were doing something wrong (Patten 4). Parvis and Edward Boyne are good examples for this. Parvis even says: “It’s the kind of thing that happens every day in business.” (Wharton 368) It was the birth of a new kind of criminal: The white-collar criminal. A criminal that doesn’t even realize that he is committing a crime because it is not against the law and because it happens every day (Patten 5).

When Wharton was writing "Afterward", mining companies were destroying the landscape of the Midwest for profit. Similarly to that, Boyne’s Blue Star Mine destroys the landscape of the Midwest, while he enjoys the beautiful countryside in England (Patten 4).

What eventually happens to Ned Boyne is justice and Edith Wharton’s way of pointing with the finger at the new aristocracy while defending the old one of her time. And she had good reason to do so. While Social Darwinism meant that the people with money would be the elite class, it was an anxiety of the Old Money class that they could be replaced by a new, more efficient class of aristocracy (Jacobsen 105-106).

• Jacobsen, Karen J. “Economic Hauntings: Wealth and Class in Edith Wharton’s Ghost Stories”. College Literature. Vol. 35, No. 1 Winter, 2008: 100-127. Web. (online available under: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25115480?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) (Retrieved 15/06/2019)

• Patten, Ann L. “The Spectres of Capitalism and Democracy in Edith Wharton’s Early Ghost Stories”. Edith Wharton Review. Vol. 25, No. 1 Spring, 2009: 1-8. Web. (online available under: https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/wharton/ewr25-1s09.pdf) (Retrieved 15/06/2019)

• Wharton, Edith. "Afterward". The Muse's Tragedy and Other Stories . Ed. Candace Waid. London: Penguin Books, 1992. 342-373. Print.