The Golden Vanity

No, that must be wrong.

One must make a life, out of the lump of raw commonplace, content with a kind of

average return. Or fix upon some definite, tangible objective, and convince

yourself that it’s worth your whole effort. Men did that, too, accumulated money

and possessions and strove for importance. Mysie thought, at least Gina is

successful; a great match is the legitimate traditional ambition for a woman, as

much as place or power for a man. And Geraldine is successful, not because she

has written a best seller, nor because she had got a husband; Leonard isn’t

much; but she has made something out of their relation, out of her marriage and

her children; they belong to her.