The Mission of Jane

The story begins at the dinner table of the Lethburys´ married couple. Mr. Lethbury looked at his wife in his ordinary manner – not interested, but this time there was a slight change in the appearance of his wife that attracted his attention. He questioned his wife about the change in her look assuming it should have been a new dress that made her look smart. The disapproving glance of Mrs. Lethbury made him understand that she wouldn´t waste the new gown on him, and, as she blushed, he realized that the change laid deeper. He pointed out that she sparkled as if she had her diamonds on or had been to a dressmaker, but she denied both by sighing and blushing even more. He was seemingly amused by torturing and embarrassing Mrs. Lethbury, however, after his statement that she obviously must had been doing something she was ashamed of, she surprised him by telling there was nothing for her to be ashamed of. This was like an invitation to torture his wife further, so he asked her to explain. At this point Mrs. Lethbury became nervous and was afraid her husband would laugh at her. Nevertheless, she repeated she hadn´t been doing something she should be ashamed of, which lead him to the assumption that she had done something he wouldn´t approve of. Mrs. Lethbury replied she knew he wouldn’t approve of it. This answer made Mr. Lethbury even more curious and he had to ask her again. This time Mrs. Lethbury answered directly that it was a baby she was talking about. Mr. Lethbury was taken by surprise so deeply that he even had to make it clear if it was a human baby they were discussing. Mrs. Lethbury confirmed it was a human baby, and her husband wanted to know if it was an abstract or a concrete baby. The way Mrs. Lethbury spoke about the baby clarify this misunderstanding; it was a concrete baby she was visiting in the hospital and was hoping to adopt. The realization of the seriousness of his wife´s intentions unveiled sadness of Mrs. Lethbury´s position in their marriage: she was lonely, wishing for a baby without a chance to get one by herself. This chance to adopt a child and make her wish come true seems to be the only way to escape her loneliness, which she confirms by explaining her idea of parenthood: “… I could… pet it, and dress it, and do things for it… “(Wharton, “The Mission of Jane”).

Mr. Lethbury accompanied Mrs. Lethbury to the hospital where he was going to meet the child for the first time. On the way to the hospital, he was thinking about the consequences the adoption of the child would bring. The images of his future with an adopted child were not pleasant: the explanations, the jokes and inquiries of his friends at the club, the comic role of the adopted father. In his mind he was tracing the way back to the reasons of the unexpected fatherhood and saw it as the punishment for his actions in the marriage in the past. He saw clearly that his marriage with Mrs. Lethbury was a mistake and his behavior towards his wife had caused her solitude, and now he was going to pay the price for his shortcomings. At the hospital his imagination continued the punishment: he suddenly saw his wife with the new eyes. For him she always had been someone with the limited imagination and lack of the depth of thought; now he was exploring the unknown corner of her consciousness – the motherhood instinct. While she stood by a crib where the child laid, he was studying the woman he was married to and whom he had never known and, as he met her glance, he realized he had become someone for her she had been for him the whole time – an invisible person. He asked the nurse what the child´s name was, she answered that they called her Jane.

III

Lethbury didn´t accept the idea of the legal adoption, but his wife insisted to make Jane their child officially. In the way Mr. Lethbury couldn´t understand, the fact that Jane wasn´t made their daughter by the process of law prevented Mrs. Lethbury regarding Jane as hers. The legal adoption wasn´t the only point the Lethburys couldn´t agree on: Mrs. Lethbury found the name “Jane” dreadful and wished to rechristen the child with another name, like Muriel or Gladys. Mr. Lethbury stayed inflexible; he found it was ridiculous to call the child Muriel and that the girl might grow up a “Jane”. In the discussions about the child´s name Mrs. Lethbury mentioned that the nurse was sure Jane was a lady´s child, but the question of Jane´s origin was something Mr. Lethbury preferred not to think about. He didn´t change his mind; therefore, Jane remained Jane.

Mr. Lethbury´s vision of the future with the child frightened him with the images of his house smelling of medicines and full of unhappy hours he would rather spend in the club than at home in spite him never being a club-man. His expectations, however, never came true: Jane was unexpectedly healthy and quiet; therefore, he had never had to worry about the child´s presence in the house.

He was observing the effects the adoption of the child took on his wife: Mrs. Lethbury´s character hadn´t change, the motherhood had built itself in her character expanding it, but not changing it. For Mr. Lethbury himself it was not easy to define himself in his new family constitution, but Mrs. Lethbury´s motherhood expanded till it included her husband, so he found himself being referred to as the father of Jane. He never saw himself becoming a father of anyone and he recognized with a part of irony, that due to his decisions Mrs. Lethbury was happy for the first time since many years. The presence of the child didn´t stay unnoticeable for Mr. Lethbury. At first, he tried to be an outside spectator of the situation, and, although the presence of Jane in his life remained rather hypothetical, he did not dislike the girl. On the contrary, her nearness was pleasant and relaxing to him; however, he was aware, that the moment he shared with his adopted daughter didn´t bring him nearer to Mrs. Lethbury. His wife had a certain place in his life, but since the adoption of Jane Mrs. Lethbury seemed not to fit in this place anymore. She took more and more place, and Mr. Lethbury had to give away more and more privacy of his lonely but cozy world. In this process Mrs. Lethbury was not alone anymore, it was her and Jane, and after the defeat in the struggle for his privacy, Mr. Lethbury found himself in “her, him and Jane” fusion.

Jane was ten years old when Mr. Lethbury started to doubt the happiness his wife had to feel being adoptive mother of Jane. Jane was a good child; she was healthy and went through the childhood diseases without causing any concerns to her adoptive parents. Mrs. Lethbury took care of Jane relentlessly, and her husband hadn´t hat to contribute in Jane´s evolution more than just provide for her. But, as the time passed, Mrs. Lethbury saw her husband with new eyes: as an educator for Jane.

Mrs. Lethbury had no illusions about her intellectual abilities: she was always the first to admit her deficiencies. She never pretended to be clever; and, as the time to instruct Jane came, she didn´t pretend she could cope with this task either. Mrs. Lethbury came to her husband with the concern she wouldn´t know what is best for their daughter and that she was sure Jane had an excellent mind and she should get every opportunity for education. Mr. Lethbury was responsible for Jane´s education from that moment on, and he was impressed by the intelligence of his little daughter. Jane was able to fix her attention and learned the facts easily. He engaged the best teachers for her studies but soon he noticed that Jane´s intelligence was rather a storage for an information that could be taken out any time. He saw the lack of flexibility of her mind: the knowledge she possessed was only a collection of facts, but she never used this collection to work out a network in which the dull dates and facts are connected to the conclusions and deep understanding of the significance of these facts. Jane laughed at her nurse for not knowing what she knows and depressed Mrs. Lethbury by giving her a feeling her mother was not clever enough to deal with her. However, Mrs. Lethbury was glad her husband had a clever companion now, while Mr. Lethbury didn´t want such kind of companionship at all. He saw something “automatic in the goodness” (Wharton, “The Mission of Jane”) of his daughter; everything she made she made for the sake of showing her agility and intelligence. When Jane became fifteen, she started to use her knowledge to reform the long-lasting traditions of Lethburys´ household, which cost four cooks and forced Mr. Lethbury to dine at the club to avoid the diet-meals at home. Mr. Lethbury tried to protect his wife from his daughter, but it only hurt the Mrs. Lethbury´s feelings.

Jane grew up in a pretty woman. Her father saw a “creditable collection of features” (Wharton, “The Mission of Jane”) his daughter possessed but found that one had to take a closer look to find out she was good-looking. Mrs. Lethbury expected a great success in the society when the time for Jane´s first steps in the world came. However, the youth and freshness of Jane didn´t impress the young men anymore after they discovered the encyclopaedia Jane had in her head. At the end of her first season Jane hadn´t had any good friends or perspectives for a good marriage.

Mrs. Lethbury expectations were ruined, but she consoled herself with the idea that Jane was too clever for a young woman. Jane shared this idea and showed no consciousness of a failure. Mother and daughter went on going out tirelessly, which caused Mr. Lethbury´s concerns about his wife again; and, as Mr. Lethbury was ready to intrude to protect his wife, Jane gave up the struggle. There was nothing obvious to define her capitulation, but the visiting reduced, and diminished dressmaker´s bills lead Mr. Lethbury to realization Jane had accepted her defeat. This realization was confirmed by the news that Jane had taken up charities. Mr. Lethbury was glad about it; however, Jane´s presence at home every evening soon became a burden for him. Jane formed a habit to join her father at the library every evening to make up for the time she thought she neglected her father while going out. Mr. Lethbury felt uncomfortable around his daughter, but his wife asked him not to discourage Jane, so he found himself counting hours spent with his daughter and reading the relief and gratitude in his wife´s eyes.

Mr. Lethbury´s patience was nearly at its end when Mrs. Lethbury announced that there was a gentleman, Mr. Budd, who would visit their house more than other gentlemen. Afraid to speak her hopes out aloud, Mrs. Lethbury first assumed it was Jane´s friend Elise Mr. Budd was interested in, but soon she reported that Elise had been abroad for a month and Mr. Budd´s visits remained stable.

Mr. and Mrs. Lethbury tried to stay indifferent even in eye-to-eye conversations, as if nothing extraordinary had happened; but both was afraid Mr. Budd´s interest was not real or that if they say it aloud or do something he would be gone with their last hope. Meanwhile, Mr. Budd made everything to impress Jane. He suffered from an “excess of manner” (Wharton, “The Mission of Jane”), which he didn´t fail to demonstrate while his visits, and soon all his chivalry and politeness were directed only to Jane. Mr. Lethbury and his wife pretended not to notice any efforts in Mr. Budd´s behavior and tried not to be too obvious in their efforts to help Mr. Budd by leaving him alone with Jane. In this process, Mr. Lethbury directed his attention to Jane and noticed, that everybody in this situation had more emotions than Jane. She remained calm and showed no eagerness, and Mr. Lethbury struggled with an impulse to give Jane some instructions to speed up the process. It was not necessary: Mr. Budd didn´t wait too long to reveal his feelings and proposed to Jane. The answer of Jane made her parents almost sleepless: she wanted a month to decide. No Mrs. Lethbury´s reasoning about Mr. Budd being discouraged by her decision could convince Jane: she claimed “… that if she was worth winning, she was worth waiting for” (Wharton, “The Mission of Jane”).

The month of probation was difficult for both Mr. Budd and Mr. Lethbury. In his mind, Mr. Lethbury painted the picture of a letter of withdrawal on his breakfast table. Jane remained adamant and didn´t agree to shorten Mr. Budd´s exam for a single day. However, as the decisive day came and Jane gave her suitor a positive answer, Mr. Lethbury suddenly heard from his wife, that it would be dreadful to give Jane up.

The change of the status didn´t soften Jane: she didn´t give up her dominion, she only expanded it to a new subject – Mr. Budd. He was in a total control of his future wife, and Mr. Lethbury, who never had an interest in Mr. Budd´s person, felt sympathy towards his son-in-law-to-be. Moreover, he found Jane too exacting about the wedding, and he found out, that his wife worried about it too. First, she tried to force her husband in a conversation with Mr. Budd in order to explain him that Jane wasn´t always so fastidious, but Mr. Lethbury, knowing it wasn´t true, refused to talk to Mr. Budd. The next day Mrs. Lethbury initiated the conversation with Mr. Budd by herself. Mrs. Lethbury was surprised by the outcome of the conversation and went to her husband to tell him about it. As Mr. Lethbury heard about Mrs. Lethbury talking to her future son-in-law, he already saw Jane returning to her seat at his library every evening, but he asked calmly what Mr. Budd had said. His wife said almost silently that Mr. Budd stated they never understood or appreciated Jane.

After that, Mr. Lethbury developed a philosophical calmness about the marriage of his daughter. He decided they had done everything what should be done, even if he noticed coldness and disapproval in Mr. Budd´s manner. On the contrary, Mrs. Lethbury continued to suffer from Jane´s temperament. The nearer the wedding day was, the more uncertain and hysterical Jane became. She quarreled with Mr. Budd and threatened to return the ring; Mrs. Lethbury saw the necessity to intervene to save the wedding, although Mr. Budd´s chivalry was a good weapon against Jane´s mood swings. Mr. Lethbury started to think, that Mr. Budd was too faithful and enduring and feared he could give up on Jane before marrying her. At the day of the wedding Mr. Lethbury couldn´t stay calm, fearing supreme powers could intervene and hinder the wedding. In the church he almost believed his fear came true when he found out Mr. Budd was late to the ceremony. Five minutes later, Mr. Budd appeared apologizing for being late, because he had torn his glove and had to return for another one. Jane and Mr. Budd married without any further accidents. At the wedding-breakfast Mr. Lethbury caught the disapproval in his wife´s eyes and understood that he should not make his overflowing hilarity so obvious but couldn´t help it. As Jane came down in her travel dress ready for the honeymoon, she fell on her mother´s neck and cried that she couldn´t leave them. This scene sobered Mr. Lethbury up, but Mr. Budd suddenly became dominant and tore his wife from the arms of her mother and bore her off to the brougham. The brougham rolled away, and the Lethburys stood alone in their house and looked at each other. The nervous tension of the past years was written in their faces: in their tired eyes, in the deepened lines on their faces. Mr. Lethbury went to his wife and laid her arm on his arm. She didn´t take it away. He invited her to a dinner at the restaurant, and she agreed, although this suggestion would have surprised her in the past. Jane fulfilled her mission: she had drawn her parents together.

Research articles and further reading:

Kornetta, Reiner. Das Korsett im Kopf. Ehe und Ökonomie in den Kurzgeschichten Edith Wharton. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang GmbH Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1996. Print. P. 149-154

Singley, Carol J. Edith Wharton. Matters of Mind and Spirit. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print. P. 47-48

Stein, Allen F. After the Vows were spoken. Marriage in American Literary Realism. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1984. P. 259-260

Online Version under: https://ohiostatepress.org/books/Complete%20PDFs/stein_vows/stein_vows.htm

Sneider, Jill. Edith Wharton: Vision and Perception in Her Short Stories. 2012. Washington University in St. Louis, PhD Dissertation. P. 25

Sources:

"The Mission of Jane"

Picture: Portrait of Wharton as a girl by Edward Harrison May, from - By Edward Harrison May - KgEeLEaKCfosdA at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21870124