Poetic Justice and Edith Wharton's “Xingu”: An Evolutionary Psychological Approach

Judith P. Saunders

doi:10.26613/esic.1.1.24

Article

Poetic Justice and Edith Wharton's “Xingu”: An Evolutionary Psychological Approach

Judith P. Saunders

Published/Copyright: April 1, 2017

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Author Information

From the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture Volume 1 Issue 1

Abstract

Insights generated in the emerging field of evolutionary psychology offer a useful new framework for examining Edith Wharton's “Xingu.” The satiric wit energizing this well-known short story depends in large measure upon the obtuseness of its central characters, who embrace counterfactual estimations of their gifts and attainments: thwarting the operations of poetic justice in order to protect social reputation and self-image, they become objects of derision. Their behavior illustrates the workings of adaptive mechanisms for self-deception. Insofar as their comically exaggerated commitment to false self-presentation illustrates universal features of evolved human nature, the target of Wharton's scorn is accordingly enlarged. Her narrative spotlights the psychological processes that sustain self-deception and scapegoating, raising serious questions concerning human claims to rational thought and ethical principle.

Keywords: deception; poetic justice; reputation; satire; scapegoat; self-deception

Works Cited

Booth, Wayne C.1961. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Darwin, Charles. (1871) 1981. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.10.5962/bhl.title.24784Search in Google Scholar

Dawkins, Richard. 1995. River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life. New York: Basic Books.Search in Google Scholar

Edelson, M., T. Sharot, R. J. Dolan, and Y. Dudal. 2011. “Following the Crowd: Brain Substates of Long-Term Memory Conformity.”Science333:108–11. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.120357.10.1126/science.1203557Search in Google Scholar

Funston, Judith E.1984. “‘Xingu’: Edith Wharton's Velvet Gauntlet.”Studies in American Fiction12 (2): 227–34.10.1353/saf.1984.0026Search in Google Scholar

Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor/Doubleday.Search in Google Scholar

Killoran, Helen. 1996. “‘Xingu’: Edith Wharton Instructs Literary Critics.”Studies in American Humor3 (3): 1–13.Search in Google Scholar

Raphael, Lev. 1991. Edith Wharton's Prisoners of Shame: A New Perspective on Her Neglected Fiction. New York: St. Martin's.10.1007/978-1-349-12389-6Search in Google Scholar

Trivers, Robert. 2002a. “Reciprocal Altruism.” in Natural Selection and Social Theory: Selected Papers of Robert Trivers, 3–55. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Trivers, Robert. 2002b. “Self-Deception in Service of Deceit.” in Natural Selection and Social Theory: Selected Papers of Robert Trivers, 255–93. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Wharton, Edith. (1911) 2001. “Xingu.” in Collected Stories 1911–1937, vol. 2, edited by Maureen Howard, 1–25. New York: Library of America.Search in Google Scholar

Wright, Robert. 1995. The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life. New York: Vintage/Random.Search in Google Scholar

Zunshine, Lisa. 2014. “Theory of Mind as a Pedagogical Tool.”Interdisciplinary Literary Studies16 (1): 89–109.10.5325/intelitestud.16.1.0089Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2017-04-01

Published in Print: 2017-04-01

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.1.1.24

Keywords for this article

deception; poetic justice; reputation; satire; scapegoat; self-deception