Edith is the quintessential archetype of a Southern woman. She is beautiful, ignorant, and lives a pure, blissful existence. Although she has no shortage of beauty, elegance, and purity, Edith is very spoiled, her immense privilege leaving her self-centred and dependent upon others. She married young and devotes herself to being a wife, her daily tasks including fretting about dinner parties and bragging about her glamorous lifestyle. Edith couldn’t be any more different to Margaret, but their history ties them together. Margaret envies Edith’s carefree life, with all its trivial worries, as Edith had never been subjected to anything near the pain Margaret experienced in Milton. However, Edith doesn’t like the change she sees in Margaret once she returns from Milton, fearing her strength and independence
