As children we've always been told that beauty is in the eye of the beholder or that we all have inner beauty. But for some of us that were less than perfect when it came to our outer personal image, we can identify with the struggles that the character, Asenath Martyn, has in the short story "The Tenth of January" by Elizabeth Phelps. Asenath is compared to her friend Del, who she refers to as “Pretty Del,” and together put back to back, I see them as a symbol of deception. That the way one looks on the outside can easily fool the outside world of it’s true worth.
A lot of what society decides is pretty or meaningful is by the way it looks on the outside. In this story Del is described as a beautiful girl while Asenath sees herself as “a humpbacked white creature, with distorted face & wide eyes.” Del counts her rejected lovers while Asenath counts her lonely nights. Del seems like the perfect girl but at a critical analysis of her friend Asenath says, “…so pretty! So pretty! She’s just good for nothing, Del is; would let the kitchen fire go out, and wouldn’t mend the baby’s aprons…” This description is critical because it just shows how misleading looks can be. Even though Asenath is an unattractive girl, she can keep house and perform the duties a wife should but because of her looks her worth is diminished beyond saving.
Although not a obvious show of symbolism, Phelps has extensive comparison between the two friends for a reason. The world is easily fooled by beauty, and will quickly ignore those things that are of true worth and value. A crushed flower is still a flower, beautiful and worthy in its own way.
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