The Classics discussion

Is she justified in the decision she makes? Why or why not?

I was able to see the reasons why she went back if only for Pansy (what a name, by the way!). I identified with her sense of duty but I hoped that she was going back in order to help this girl not make the same mistakes she had done.

She had made a promise to Pansy, and went back for her sake. Otherwise, the poor girl would have been left at the mercy of her "parents." The ending leaves things wide open for your imagination, and I hope that Isabel went back, confronted her husband, and took the upper hand in that relationship. At least, that's what I tell myself happened. I think I would have started slipping a little something into his morning tea, until he mysteriously wasted away and died.

Though the above comments discuss Isabel's decision to help Pansy, I'd like to comment on her decision to refuse two perfectly wonderful suitors in lieu of a snobby, condesending jerk.

I'm not all that crazy about Isabel's personality. I realize she is supposed to be a smart, independent gal that's way ahead of her time. But, I see her as a selfish child who, as stated in the book, is not as smart as she wants everyone to perceive. She is so worried about what everyone else thinks, despite her adamant denials of that fact, that she uses shock value to prove her "independence" from everyone else's opinions. Case in point, accepting Osmond's hand though she knew he was a lazy self-righteous man, and refusing the two men who she actually liked (maybe even loved) because they were universally accepted by others. Granted, I'm not a person who lives my life according to the opinions of others, however, there is something to be said for the unbiased perceptions of friends and family - especially when it concerns matters of the heart, the most biased and clouded of all human dramas.