54 pages • 1-hour read
The Custom of the Country
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Chapters 35-46Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 35 Summary
Ralph eagerly awaits the news of the success of his stock. Elmer has become a well-respected fixture on Wall Street, but his deal didn’t work out, which left Ralph with nothing. Ralph explains why he needs the money, and Elmer reveals the truth about his relationship with Undine: He and Undine had married secretly nine years ago, and her family had forced a divorce.
Chapter 36 Summary
Ralph desperately spirals. He realizes that Undine had lied to him from the very beginning of their relationship. He sees no way out of his financial woes, now that he’ll certainly lose his son to Undine and be incapable of repaying back his family and friends. Ralph takes a revolver and holds it to his temple.
Chapter 37 Summary
After Ralph’s death by suicide, Paul is sent to Europe to live with Undine. Undine worries about where to fit Paul into her life; a marriage into nobility hasn’t been as lucrative as she thought it would be. She likes that Raymond is infatuated with her, although he’s controlling in ways that keeps her dependent on him. Ralph’s death meant that she no longer needed an annulment, and Undine assumes that once she marries Raymond, she can help him modernize his family’s property and use it for more lucrative endeavors.
Three months after Ralph’s death by suicide, the money he invested with Elmer doubles, leaving the $100,000 to Paul and, therefore, indirectly, to Undine. In addition, Undine wins an allowance of $5,000 from the Dagonets to raise Paul—and still receives allowances from her father. Despite fearing that others may see Undine’s new wealth as stolen money, she dives into European socialite life. However, every happiness changes when Raymond tells her that they’ll be moving to Saint Désert.
Chapter 38 Summary
A year into her move to the French countryside, Undine still hopes that the time will come when they’ll move back to French society. Paul annoyed her when he first moved to France because he was always asking for his Dagonet family, but in the countryside, Paul seems happier. Raymond’s father dies, which keeps the family in the countryside longer for mourning. Raymond’s ascent into the title of Marquis only brings more financial responsibilities; he now inherits the duty to take over the upkeep of large estates. Raymond promises that Undine can visit Paris for the Spring season events but finds it strange that Undine assumes he’ll be able to let her live lavishly in Paris year-round. Undine realizes that Raymond sees his money as a way of investing in the family’s future, and no amount of coaxing can persuade him to spend that money now. Undine can’t charm Raymond the way she did other men:
Hitherto she had had to contend with personal moods, now she was arguing against a policy; and she was gradually to learn that it was as natural to Raymond de Chelles to adore her and resist her as it had been to Ralph Marvell to adore her and let her have her way. (240)
Raymond goes to Paris to sort out his brother Hubert’s debts. He returns with the news that he’s arranged a marriage between Hubert and a woman who is a wealthy American heir and can fund his lifestyle. Undine is immediately jealous of this new American woman, even though she should be relieved that they’ll no longer have to financially support Hubert. In addition, Hubert’s new father-in-law will remodel and update Raymond’s hotel, giving his family a new marriage and a new business deal. Raymond explains that he’s securing a financial future for his family, including the son he desperately wants to conceive with Undine. In a fit of anger, Undine tells him that Hubert will have to carry the family name, since he and his American wife will have all the space and luxury for children.
Chapter 39 Summary
After their argument, Undine notices a change in Raymond. He starts working more, which reminds her of Ralph. He gives her more freedoms but reminds her of her family obligations. Although he seems nice, Undine suspects that the change indicates a new apathy toward her.
Raymond devotes more time to traveling for work, leaving Undine alone in the countryside with Frenchwomen who find Undine’s desire to travel and socialize strange. The monotony of her days is eventually broken by a visit from Princess Estradina. The Princess is surprised that Undine has stayed in the countryside for so long—and insinuates that Raymond is up to more than just business on his solo trips.
Chapter 40 Summary
Undine distracts herself from her boredom by shopping and seeking a school where she can send Paul. Raymond informs her that she can’t go to Paris that Spring because their bills are too high. This infuriates Undine, who suggests that Raymond sell his estate or at least some of the priceless heirlooms in it. Stunned by this suggestion, Raymond repeats that Undine simply doesn’t understand.
Chapter 41 Summary
Undine is increasingly irrelevant to Raymond’s life—or so she thinks. She picks fights with him to test his responses and finds that nothing she says affects him. She concocts a plan to sell the historic tapestries in the family estate. She invites a seller and his customer to the estate and is surprised that the customer is Elmer Moffatt. Elmer’s recent business deals have made him extravagantly wealthy. In conversation with Elmer about her new family’s money and the incessant desire that Elmer and Undine share to conquer and own more things, Undine realizes how similar she and Elmer are.
Chapter 42 Summary
Raymond allows for a family trip to Paris in anticipation of the birth of Hubert’s child, an heir for the de Chelles family. Undine doesn’t understand why she and her husband are invited only to large, personal events, and Madame de Trézac points out that in French society, Undine is an oddity and is perceived to not work hard enough to understand French culture, customs, and conversation.
Raymond is aghast when he finds out about the offer to buy his family’s Boucher tapestries. He accuses Undine of coming from a country with no history and therefore being unable to understand the sacredness of his heirlooms.
Chapter 43 Summary
Undine recalls meeting Elmer for the first time. No one in Apex knew where exactly he came from, but he was popular and successful in his hustling through different jobs. She fell in love with him because she recognized in his ambition her own desires to seize anything she wanted in the world. Now, in France, Undine remembers that Elmer is still in Paris, just a phone call away.
Chapter 44 Summary
Undine arranges to meet Elmer at an event hosted by Indiana. She invites Elmer to visit her the next day and convinces him to extend his trip. They spend the ensuing weeks socializing and visiting friends around Paris together. A bill collector visits Undine and embarrasses her in front of her mother-in-law. Desperate for positive attention, Undine surprises Elmer at his hotel room and begs him not to send her away.
Chapter 45 Summary
Undine proclaims that no one has moved her the way Elmer has. She tells him that the French care about marriage as a business contract—but Elmer says he’ll only take her back as his wife. Elmer promises to help her secure a divorce, but she must agree to marry him and leave with him immediately.
Chapter 46 Summary
Paul is now nine years old. He waits in a house for his mother, who has married Elmer Moffatt and lives a life of opulent travel. With Paul is Mrs. Heeny—whom Undine called in to help her navigate her new life and deal with Paul, who misses his fathers. Mrs. Heeny shows Paul her collection of news clippings about the Moffatts and reads aloud about the record-fast divorce Elmer secured because of his immense wealth and powerful business connections. Paul is confused to hear that the divorce proceedings included an accusation that his French stepfather was brutal, which he knows is untrue.
Undine and Elmer arrive, but Undine is more interested in examining the de Chelles tapestries Elmer bought than hearing about Paul’s awards from school. Undine is preoccupied by the dinner she’s hosting in her new Parisian home. She is thrilled to host an ensemble of old society friends but “was not always happy. She had everything she wanted, but she still felt, at times, that there were other things she might want if she knew about them” (287). Elmer tells her about the news that Driscoll has been appointed ambassador to England. He informs her that she could never be the wife of an ambassador because she’s divorced, which makes Undine want the position as though it were her birthright.
Chapters 35-46 Analysis
The final chapters of The Custom of the Country portray a tragic end to Ralph’s hopes for the future. He invests money in the stock market to buy off Undine and keep his son, but the money doesn’t materialize in time. Tragically, the money doubles—but too late for Ralph to keep Paul. The risk of the stock market is emblematic of American capitalism; it can make poor men rich, but it can also make rich men poor. The gamble of the stock market is itself an American cultural idea, in which big rewards come at the cost of great risk. Ralph’s earlier premonition that the legacy of the First Families would eventually be extinct comes true because men like Ralph don’t need to learn about American capitalism and are therefore doomed to be victims of changing economic well-being. Ralph was never taught to understand how money is made or manipulated, so he makes a deal with Elmer, not realizing that he may lose all his money. Men like Elmer, however, who have had to work and scheme their whole lives, value the waiting game. Elmer knows that making smart business decisions that end up lucrative is about hedging bets and enduring dips in stocks. The shock of losing both his money and his son—combined with the revelation that Elmer and Undine had once been married—drives Ralph to self-harm. His death by suicide symbolizes the extinction of the First Families because it implies that they don’t have the skills to cope with the changing tides of wealth and power.
Ralph’s death by suicide is shocking, as it juxtaposes his character development in earlier chapters. After his divorce from Undine, Ralph eventually begins to feel hopeful about his life. He acts on his feelings for Clare, is deeply invested in his novel, and lives joyfully for his son. Thus, his death by suicide is even more disturbing because it violates the expectations that the narrative has created. However, the death by suicide is also emblematic of Wharton’s criticisms of societal standards. Ralph’s actions are an extreme response to social scandal, and Wharton indicates the tragedy that social pressures would be significant enough to motivate self-harm. In addition, Ralph’s death by suicide inadvertently makes Undine’s life easier, so his death gives her victory—an unsatisfying trade-off. With Ralph dead, Undine no longer needs an annulment. Undine gets everything she wanted: Paul, a new marriage, and Ralph’s money. This death by suicide and its repercussions emphasize Undine’s callousness. She didn’t want Ralph to die but is more focused on the benefits his death has given her. Furthermore, Paul arrives in France, derailing Undine’s plans. Paul continues to be an annoyance to her, which demonstrates that Ralph died for nothing, because Paul would have been happier with Ralph and his family no matter the cost. Additionally, in taking Paul away from the Marvells, Undine takes the Dagonet family down in that if Paul isn’t a Marvell, the family doesn’t have an heir.
Undine’s marriage to Raymond reveals many conflicts between country-based customs. Money in European noble circles is seen as communal, not individual. Raymond is more concerned about preserving his family’s history through estates and heirlooms, while Undine remains focused only on her own material greed. Europeans prioritize community preservation rather than individual happiness in using money. This is a cultural difference that Undine can’t wrap her head around, as evident in her insistence that Raymond sell the tapestries in his estate. For Raymond, these tapestries are priceless because they’re sacred to French history. He accuses Undine of being too American to understand: Whereas he comes from a long and renowned history, Undine comes from a place where people move and break with tradition. However, Undine has done this before: Ralph was similarly shocked when Undine reset the Dagonet family jewels he gifted her, because to Ralph, those jewels were family heirlooms, not something for Undine to play with. These conflicts emphasize Undine’s characterization as un-empathetic. She simply doesn’t care about the meaning behind objects; she cares only about possession.
The cultural differences between French and American relationships with wealth are evident in other examples too. In France, Undine is expected to work hard to adapt to French traditions, while in New York, breaking with tradition and experimenting with new ideas is much more acceptable. In American society, Undine can be a trailblazer. However, in French society, Undine is never truly accepted because she doesn’t have the same range of discourse or values as the native French noble people. These chapters prove Bowen’s theories about the American custom of the country. True to Bowen’s hypothesis, Raymond attempts to include his wife in discussions about family finances and rules. When he finds that Undine doesn’t care to engage in those discussions, he stops. Thus, Undine proves that the American expectation is to leave wives out of financial discussions. In writing about the differences between America and France, Wharton shows that every country has its own custom, and those customs are important to culture and social development.
Another core difference in culture is Undine’s insatiable desire. The more Undine gets, the more she wants. She doesn’t plan the way the French do. Instead, she’s impulsive with her desires and needs immediate gratification. In parallel with Raymond’s point about history, Undine comes from a society in which progress is rapid and the pursuit of immediate gratification is admirable because it exudes independence. For the French, many hundreds of years of waiting have shown them that immediate personal desires pale in comparison to the sanctity of shared history. While Raymond has much to protect, Undine has nothing to lose.
In a fitting plot twist, Undine divorces Raymond and marries Elmer. Elmer and Undine are similar in that both crave material things incessantly, want a stimulating (if insecure) life, and are impressed by people who know and get what they want. It’s ironic that after all of Undine’s marriages, after Paul’s birth and abandonment, and after Ralph’s death by suicide, Undine ends up with her first husband from her pre-New York socialite youth. Had society norms not interfered in their first marriage, Undine and Elmer might have always been happy together. Elmer’s nature is to work hard, so Undine likely would have become a rich woman—and Elmer is impressed that Undine stands up for him, solidifying their partnership. Based on personality and goals, Elmer and Undine are an ideal match. Wharton thus proves that age and experience can teach a woman to understand what she really wants. Instead of marrying girls off before they can discover who they are, marriages made in adulthood better reflect shared values and goals. Wharton makes it clear that Undine truly does have a special passion for Elmer. Nonetheless, she certainly wouldn’t have left Raymond for Elmer if Elmer weren’t incredibly wealthy.
Undine accomplishes her goals with no regard to the people she leaves in her wake. She truly doesn’t care about Paul’s loneliness, Ralph’s death by suicide, her impoverished parents, or Raymond’s religion that forbids divorce. She hurts many people to climb socially and feed her greed. Wharton again implies that this is an American trait: Because people in the US are encouraged to think of life through an independent lens, they learn to look out for themselves first. In this way, Undine is a protagonist who exemplifies American values.
Undine never really changes. At the novel’s end, she decides she wants to be an ambassador’s wife because Elmer comments that she could never be one. Thus, Wharton—in this tragicomedy of manners—emphasizes that Undine’s insatiable desire is cyclical and unstoppable. No matter how much Undine gets in life, she will—tragically and comically—always want more.
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