Posted on 10/29/2014 6:40:35 AM PDT by C19fan
When Ellen Olenskafreshly back from Europe under a pall of ambiguous disgraceinvites Newland Archer to her home for the first time in Edith Whartons novel The Age of Innocence, she ignores the unwritten sartorial mandates and dons a long robe of red velvet bordered about the chin and down the front with glossy black fur. As a little girl, Ellen appeared to exhibit a similar disregard for convention, mourning her parents in wildly inappropriate clothing: crimson merino and amber beads. The gossips and busybodies who recall that childhood faux pas want to imply a provocative question About Ellen: Was the little girl even sorry that her parents had died? Because red is certainly not the color of sadness.
(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...
Too bad Edward Gorey’s not still alive to see that one!
We have a family friend who dressed in black or dark blue for a year when her mother died. It was consistent with her chinese/filipino mourning traditions.
I think it’s a good idea. Americans expect people to shake off grief and move on quickly, but that’s not how it goes.
Note the photos of FDR speaking before Congress on December 8, 1941. He is wearing a black arm band.
INTERMENT, blast it!
That said, the author makes some excellent points. Mourning rituals were arbitrary and regimented, but the customs provided a public structure everyone could work with, rather than leaving individuals in the lurch.
What does one owe, in terms of public "grief," to a boyfriend (or girlfriend) who dies?
I’m all for the Merry Widow.
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