Chapters 31 and 32 Summary and Analysis
Summary
On the return of Olive and Verena to their hotel, they find a letter for each of them. Verena takes her letter to the privacy of her room, leaving the one for Olive on the hall table. She knows who it is from and what it is about, and this knowledge makes her feel treacherous in regards to Olive. It is from Basil, asking to meet her the next day. Talking to Olive, she tells her the contents of the letter, but says that, since they are returning to Boston the next day, it is of no consequence. Olive, however, says they need to return quickly, as her letter is from Mrs. Burrage, urging her to let Verena stay with her for a long visit in New York. Verena is eager to stay, but does not want to upset Olive, either with her remaining in New York or with seeing Basil Ransom. Olive says that the choice is up to her, which surprises Verena, as Olive had just stated how much she felt that Verena has done things behind her back. The ladies decide that they will stay; Verena is curious to hear “the other side” from Basil. She insists, however, that she has renounced marriage, and keeps insisting this is the case until she feels that at last Olive believes her.
The next day Basil comes, but he does not leave as quickly as Olive had planned. She leaves for Mrs. Burrage’s while he is still with Verena. She trusts Verena to keep their agreement made the previous evening, that is, that she would reject Basil and stay committed to the cause and decline marriage. As Olive speaks with Mrs. Burrage, the latter assumes that it is already decided that Verena will stay in New York with her for a protracted visit. What she wanted to speak to Olive about was her son, Henry Burrage, who still wants to marry Verena despite her refusal the year before. Mrs. Burrage wants Olive to refrain from interfering. She points out that, if Verena does not marry Henry, she will be open to the approaches of other suitors, especially ones that want to shut her up, while Henry would only provide her support in the cause that he has now embraced himself (or so his mother says). Olive knows that she is referring to Basil, and this makes her consider the advantages of Verena’s marriage into the Burrage family. She knows that the Burrages have more money than she, and will thus be able to provide more advantages for Verena to speak for the cause of women’s rights. More than that, however, Olive knows that by this marriage Basil will be vanquished once and for all, which is the desire of her heart at the moment. She is not sure that Verena will even accept Henry, nor is Mrs. Burrage assured, but the possibility lies that she will and thus will still be able to continue with her speaking career. Olive returns to the hotel, knowing that she will lose Verena either way, but if she marries Henry, she will lose her less than if she married Basil.
Analysis
Olive has come to the dividing line of her relationship with Verena. She must decide how much control she actually has over the young woman. Despite her new insistence that Verena is free to make her own choices, she knows (and as Mrs. Burrage points out) that she has an extremely strong influence over Verena. If Olive wants her to return to Boston, she will do so. Thus, if she “allows” her...
(This entire section contains 1045 words.)
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to stay in New York, she will agree. However, Olive knows the time has come when she must decide whether or not she will let Verena choose. Verena has already displayed some prevarication in relating events to her, despite their agreement to tell each other everything. Verena even has the gall to remind Olive of this, despite her own duplicity.
As the reader now knows, and as Olive refuses to realize, Verena is not as malleable as Olive trusts that she is. Olive has promoted Verena’s role in the fight for the independence of women only to be forced to grant Verena independence. The possibility exists that Olive will lose Verena to a man. This to her signals a defeat in the fight. She does not allow herself to reflect that it is also a personal defeat in losing a friend, nor does she feel that she is losing an “income” from her speaking, despite the large amount of money that it seems Verena is soon to be earning from her engagements. Olive has come to realize that she most likely has already lost her to one of the two men; but to which man is of great importance to the cause for which she has staked her life.
Marriage to Henry Burrage will allow Verena to keep on speaking, perhaps even growing in popularity and influence as she is able to move more into the affluent New York society to which Henry belongs. By stepping back and letting Henry woo Verena, Olive is making a personal sacrifice for the good of the public cause, or at least it is to be hoped. She must make the choice to trust the Burrages and believe that they are as much in sympathy with Verena’s views as Mrs. Burrage swears they are. The Burrages will be able to provide more opportunities for Verena than Olive could herself. As for Olive, she must determine to what extent she will allow her private wishes to override her public devotion to the reform movement.
Olive also realizes the likelihood that marriage to Basil will end Verena’s career. Although Basil has been enthralled with her speaking abilities, he is adamantly opposed to the opinions she is publicly sharing. It is almost guaranteed that he will still her voice and that her time as a symbol of the reform movement will be ended by the very act that she has been speaking against as a form of slavery to women. It is now up to Olive to make the moral choice of what is of greater merit: the furtherance of the cause or her own happiness.
