Quote by Edith Wharton

My first few weeks in America are always miserable, because the tastes I am cursed with are all of a kind that cannot be gratified here, and I am not enough in sympathy with our gross public to make up for the lack on the aesthetic side. One's friends are delightful; but we are none of us Americans, we don't think or feel as the Americans do, we are the wretched exotics produced in a European glass-house, the most displaced and useless class on earth!


My first few weeks in America are always miserable, because

Summary

In this quote, the speaker laments their inability to find satisfaction in America due to their refined tastes. They feel disconnected from the American culture and society, unable to fully relate or appreciate the prevailing ideals. While acknowledging the delightful company of friends, the quote highlights a feeling of being a displaced outsider, a foreign entity unable to find purpose or fulfillment in a society that is not aligned with their own sensibilities.

Topics

Exile
By Edith Wharton
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