UNDERCONSTRUCTION
Sorry, i have few essays but i dont think they all good to be posted on here. 1. Is the role of Selden in this novel important? Why? The role of Selden is highly important because it is a stock role in the novel of manners. He is the observer, the person who cannot marry. It is through his eyes that we are asked to interpret the society. Wharton makes his role clear at the beginning by putting him in The Benedick, essentially representing the Benedictine monks, or bachelors. His home forms a private enclave that will not be interrupted and into which very few people are allowed. Another feature that Selden brings into the novel is that of being amphibious, that is, being able to live with the elite and also with the working classes. "I have tried to remain amphibious." Selden is in fact the only man who works in the novel, and his ability to live in both worlds is symbolic of the role of the bachelor in the society.