National Avenue · Chapter
VIII explained
Lena McMillan struggles with her decision to marry Dan Oliphant, torn between her love for him and her fear of leaving New York for the Western frontier.
What happens
Lena McMillan struggles with her decision to marry Dan Oliphant, torn between her love for him and her fear of leaving New York for the Western frontier. She consults her brother George, who reveals his own disillusionment with New York society and warns Lena about her own self-destructive habits. The chapter explores the McMillan family's snobbery and their grudging acceptance of Dan as a suitor after Lena's scandalous affair with Perry Venable.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Family
The McMillan family's snobbery and their view of the West as barbaric, contrasted with their grudging acceptance of Dan as a suitor to salvage Lena's reputation after the Venable scandal.
Marriage and Alienation
Lena's fear that marriage to Dan will alienate her from her familiar New York life, and her sense of being forced into a decision she resents.
Ambition and Failure
George's confession of his own failure to escape a self-destructive lifestyle in New York, and Lena's ambition for a life abroad thwarted by Dan's financial limitations.
Characters to notice
- Lena McMillan
Indecisive and irritated, Lena writes a letter to Dan expressing her heartbreak and frustration over his inability to offer her a year abroad. She later consults her brother George, revealing her fear of the Western accent and her sense of being forced into marriage.
- George McMillan
Lena's brother, who advises her to think carefully about marrying Dan. He confesses his own weaknesses and his desire to escape New York's temptations, warning Lena about her own reliance on music and alcohol.
- Dan Oliphant
Lena's fiancé, who is the subject of her letter and her indecision. He is described as a 'likable chap' by George, but Lena resents his insistence that she move to the West.
- Mrs. Savage
Mentioned indirectly as part of the family's austerity toward Lena, which makes Dan an appealing escape.
- Perry Venable
The baritone with whom Lena had a scandalous affair two years prior, which damaged her reputation and led to the family's grudging acceptance of Dan.
Key passages
“You said you loved me! That isn’t quite easy to believe just now. Why did you let me go on counting upon our having a year abroad?”
Lena accuses Dan of not truly loving her because he failed to fulfill his promise of a year abroad.
Lena's letter to Dan expresses her heartbreak and doubt about his commitment.
“It’s so indecently unfair! It is forcing me; and his letter was a perfectly abject confession of it. He admits himself he’s compelling me to go out to that awful place and live with him.”
Lena complains to George that Dan is unfairly forcing her to move to the West against her will.
Lena's sense of coercion and resentment toward Dan's plans.
“I’d rather like to go out there, myself.”
George expresses a surprising interest in moving to the West.
George's desire to escape his own destructive New York lifestyle.
“A McMillan who got herself talked about, and then confessed, not in the manner of confession but with anger, that she had not been deceived—such a McMillan would conceivably do such a thing again, and a respectable barbarian bridegroom might be the best substitute for those unfortunately obsolete family resources in times of youthful revolt, lettres de cachet and the enforced taking of veils.”
The McMillan family saw Dan as a safe match for Lena after her scandalous affair, preferring a 'respectable barbarian' to further disgrace.
The family's pragmatic acceptance of Dan as a way to control Lena's rebellious tendencies.
