Money Can Buy Happiness: The Question of Choice in Dreiser’s “The Second Choice” Essay

The unite States in the late nineteenth and early ordinal century was undergoing a drastic change. A war mingled with its states had just concluded, enslaved people were give freedom, immigrants from all over the world flocked to the hoidenish, and a bitter divide between rich and poor was beginning to form. The literary productions followed the same trajectory of the unpolished and, as does most literature, became a mirror of the happenings across gender, race, and strain. Many grave insights about the peeled construct of country post-Civil War could be pitch within these works.One such insight about the United States implicated the relationship between wo workforce and superior. During this new chapter of Ameri cease hi history, women were making their voices bear a go at itn. Writers like Marg atomic number 18t Fuller, Ella wheel horse Wilcox, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman were some of the most prominent female person writers during this time and were large contribu tors to this new wave of literature. They blended feminine perspective with a form of literature that became extremely popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Realism.Feminine realism was so market equal to(p) that point male authors produced such writings. One such male author was Theodore Dreiser with his short story The Second Choice. Much can be inferred from this story, but mainly that small-arm m unmatchedy can buy womens happiness and the freedom to choose, accepted mobility and choice is something only accessible to rich, white men. The rubric of the work whitethorn give many readers the implication that Shirley, the protagonist, ultimately resigns to her fate and chooses Bart, her second choice for a mate.While that is a very valid interpretation, it certainly isnt the only one. One reading into the title could suggest that Shirley is the second choice. insure the opening pages of the story, which is Arthurs, Shirleys fare, letter to Shirley. While Shirley is limited to her choices, Arthur has, and has made, many choices. He tells her, But Im too young to marry now. You get by that, Shirley, dont you? He continues with, Roxbaumthats my new employercame to me and wanted to know if I would like an assistant overseershipin Java (p. 1). Within one paragraph of a letter, Arthur has already made two choices Furthermore, the fact that he has even penned this letter to Shirley all the way from Pittsburgh shows the mobility and free range that he has. Dreiser perhaps was reminding his audience (which was largely undisturbed of immigrant and/or lower class women) that despite the fierce feminist endeavor that had gripped the nation, equality between men and women was still grossly imbalanced.In the span of about forty pages, Arthur good moves from West Leigh (the adjoining suburb), to Shirleys town, to Pittsburgh to Java. However, for Shirley, West Leigh is the furthest she travels in the story, and even then, she was invited by a friend. It is only through another person that Shirley is able to move from one place to another. Another reading into both the title and plot is the question about class. Anatomy already puts half of the macrocosm at a disadvantage in attaining mobility, but class can also be a major hinderance to the freedoms of choice.In the beginning of the story, Shirley muses, her parents, her work, her periodical shuttling to and fro between the drug company for which she worked and this street and housewas typical of her bread and butter and what she was destined to endure always. She continues her lament by comparing herself to other girls who were so much more fortunate. They had fine clothes, fine homes, a world of pleasance and opportunity in which to move (4). Shirley is very conscious of her position as a have not and yearns for that world of pleasure and opportunity in which to move. It is with this passage in mind that raises the question Is Shirley really in love with Arthur or is she simply drawn to the opportunity and world he represents? A compelling case can be made for both, however, the question nor response are as important as the result. Due to her gender and class, she entrust not have the chance to find out. Her gender and class are parts of Shirleys identity that restrict her from movement. The choices that such confining slew allow are so limited, Shirley might as well have no choice at all. She can marry Bart, marry somebody else, or spend her life alone.None of these choices include Arthur, so none of them will make her happy. Through this short story, Dreiser is making a line about the position of lower class women in the feminist movement. feminist movement does not include someone of Shirleys status and gender. This was a movement strictly for the higher classes. Besides this, perhaps Dreiser is making an even broader line of reasoning about the suffrage movement. Indeed the suffrage movement was largely composed of genteel women , but much like Shirley, the only chance at more freedom and choice for any woman in this country is still through a man.Womens effective to vote and the right to make more independent decisions for themselves still must be approve by a federal government run exclusively by men. Regardless of any choice that Shirley (women) could have made, Arthur (men) still have the superlative mobility. Dreiser probably neither praises or condemns the feminist movement, but rather reminds his readers to nourish things in their proper perspective and not to allow themselves to be carried away(p) quite so quickly. No matter class or gender, adjust freedom is still only reserved to rich, white males.