How could you, Gene? How could you put your Kate through all of that? Where did you find the heart to drag her through such tragedy, stripping her of everything that mattered to her, one after the other, finding new depths of tragedy in every chapter? Perhaps more than how, I wonder, "Why?"
I should have known that something was up when the handsome man seemingly destined to bring an end to Kate's heartache and loneliness showed up in the first third of the book. Surely the arc wasn't going to close that quickly, and there would be more to it. Complications are one thing, however, and a parade of trauma and despair is another. What possible message could Porter be trying to convey?
At first the message seemed to be that Kate's stubbornness and elitism were the obstacles in the way of her happiness. What reader could fail to be frustrated with her when she turned the eligible man away purely on the basis of his spelling? Surely a Porter heroine would not be so callous and shallow, and this was only a moment of character growth. Surely Kate would eventually see her mistake, and be led into the Elysian fields.
Not so. By Porter's calculations, Kate was right to do so. The book was not an invective against pride, in the end. Rather, it was a warning against wanting too much in this world. There is a place for everyone, and everyone should remain in her place, Porter seems to say. Kate was right to do as she did, and all the pain and misery that resulted were simply part of life. Life is, by this reasoning, something to be endured, and happiness is to be found in, not in spite of, hard work and suffering.
I can't say that I am on board with this philosophy, but neither can I argue against it. It is all too real and accurate a depiction of existence. Nonetheless, I could have hoped that Kate be spared some tragedy, and didn't need to go through all of that to find some scrap of contentment.
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