National Avenue · Chapter
III explained
Dan Oliphant returns home from New York and walks with his childhood friend Martha Shelby.
What happens
Dan Oliphant returns home from New York and walks with his childhood friend Martha Shelby. He confesses that he is engaged to a woman from New York, causing Martha to react with quiet sadness. Dan expresses his deep attachment to his hometown and his hope to settle there with his fiancée.
Themes in this chapter
Home and Belonging
Dan expresses a strong emotional pull to his hometown, feeling it is where he 'honestly belongs,' contrasting with his New York life.
Change and Loss
Martha fears losing Dan to marriage and a possible move, highlighting the impending changes in their long-standing friendship.
Marriage and Alienation
Dan's engagement introduces a new relationship that threatens to distance him from his old life and friends like Martha.
Characters to notice
- Dan Oliphant
Returns home from New York, dressed in formal attire, and reveals his engagement to Martha.
- Martha Shelby
Walks with Dan, teases him about his New York habits, and reacts with concealed sorrow upon learning of his engagement.
- Harlan Oliphant
Mentioned as Dan's brother who finds the city 'squalid' upon returning.
- Mrs. Savage
Dan's grandmother, whom he is on his way to visit to share the news of his engagement.
Key passages
“I had a kind of feeling—a pretty strong feeling—that this is where I honestly belong.”
Dan felt a powerful sense that his hometown was his true home.
Highlights Dan's deep connection to his city.
“I'm afraid you're going to say you got engaged to someone in New York. You are?”
Martha fears Dan will announce an engagement to a New York woman.
Martha's intuition and anxiety about losing Dan.
“I've always had you for a next-door neighbour; you've always been my best friend among the boys I grew up with;—I'm afraid I'll lose you if you get married.”
Martha explains that Dan has been her closest childhood friend and she fears marriage will take him away.
Martha's emotional vulnerability and the value of their friendship.