With each shaming of Charity, Harney’s sexual desire for her heightens. He reconciles her lack of socioeconomic status and place of origin by seeing it as a degrading fact of her life. This allows Harney to keep a sexual relationship with Charity while, as the reader later finds out, and early suspects; he remains engaged to Annabel Balch, the high-class and well off woman who Charity compared herself to from the first page of the book throughout the novel. As Charity’s shame increases, her sexual accessibility increases. The increase in socioeconomic status and desexualization of Annabel increases her marital quality and Harney’s respect.
An additional factor to Harney’s degradation of Charity remains the fact of her cultural and educational …show more content…
Shame can either develop into a shame cycle, the thing that creates the shame become the very things that one returns to for the purpose of coping with the shame. Shame can also be used as a motive for self-change. It is important to distinguish the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is the thought or belief of having done something wrong, whereas shame is the thought or belief of being “wrong” oneself. One is based on actions, and the other is based on self. Guilt most often leads to apology or confession for the wrong committed. Shame, on the other hand, most often follows two …show more content…
In a study of “Shame and the Motivation to Change the Self,” Lickel states that, “conscious experience of emotions evolves to aid in self-regulation of behavior toward goals that might be more distant and abstract” (1049.) This study reveals shame as a motive in self-change; and that though guilt can be used as a motive for change, shame is often a better motive for self-change. Because guilt can often be resolved with an apology, and shame deals with the internal self more than the external self, shame deals more exclusively with internal and personal change. In Peter Muris’ work, he states that shame has a function to, “regulate interpersonal behavior and social life by prompting people to behave in a moral, socially appropriate way in social interactions and intimate relationships” (Muris 20).
In Charity’s life, shame is seen both in its cyclical form in regards to associations with the Mountain, and as motive shame concerning her relationships often leads to self-change. Even Charity’s altercation with Mr. Royall on the night he tries to enter her bedroom could easily have been a shameful moment for her (Wharton 16.) However she uses that as leverage to get a housekeeper for the red house and get a job at the library (Wharton
An additional factor to Harney’s degradation of Charity remains the fact of her cultural and educational …show more content…
Shame can either develop into a shame cycle, the thing that creates the shame become the very things that one returns to for the purpose of coping with the shame. Shame can also be used as a motive for self-change. It is important to distinguish the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is the thought or belief of having done something wrong, whereas shame is the thought or belief of being “wrong” oneself. One is based on actions, and the other is based on self. Guilt most often leads to apology or confession for the wrong committed. Shame, on the other hand, most often follows two …show more content…
In a study of “Shame and the Motivation to Change the Self,” Lickel states that, “conscious experience of emotions evolves to aid in self-regulation of behavior toward goals that might be more distant and abstract” (1049.) This study reveals shame as a motive in self-change; and that though guilt can be used as a motive for change, shame is often a better motive for self-change. Because guilt can often be resolved with an apology, and shame deals with the internal self more than the external self, shame deals more exclusively with internal and personal change. In Peter Muris’ work, he states that shame has a function to, “regulate interpersonal behavior and social life by prompting people to behave in a moral, socially appropriate way in social interactions and intimate relationships” (Muris 20).
In Charity’s life, shame is seen both in its cyclical form in regards to associations with the Mountain, and as motive shame concerning her relationships often leads to self-change. Even Charity’s altercation with Mr. Royall on the night he tries to enter her bedroom could easily have been a shameful moment for her (Wharton 16.) However she uses that as leverage to get a housekeeper for the red house and get a job at the library (Wharton