Fic­tion

The Ori­en­tal Wife

Eve­lyn Toynton

By
Pen­ny Metsch
– August 25, 2011

This is a full bod­ied, com­plex nov­el about a con­se­quence of the Holo­caust known as ​“survivor’s guilt.” It is the sto­ry of Louisa, Otto, and Rolf, child­hood friends, who escape the actu­al hor­rors, but not the trau­ma. We jour­ney with Louisa from Nurem­berg to Lon­don, and then to a reunion with the men in New York. We are with them from child­hood to old age, through assim­i­la­tion, mar­riage, sweet moments, and mis­for­tune. We know their fam­i­lies, their lovers, their friends, and their neigh­bors. We cheer them on and then shake our heads in dis­be­lief over events and decisions.

Ear­ly in the sto­ry Louisa, while at her safe board­ing school in Switzer­land, has a dis­cus­sion with a Japan­ese stu­dent who dreams of mar­ry­ing a West­ern­er but knows that it is impos­si­ble. The stu­dent might live in Europe now but under­stands her real­i­ty, ​“Yes, yes, I can live there for the time being, but even so, my hus­band will expect me to be an Ori­en­tal wife, always meek, docile, my eyes cast down. Nev­er mak­ing my own des­tiny.” This, iron­i­cal­ly, becomes the defin­ing state­ment of Louisa’s life.

At every turn there are many things to con­sid­er. Why should those who sur­vived Hitler suf­fer more? The chal­lenge of start­ing over in a new coun­try is enor­mous. Who per­se­veres, who keeps fight­ing, and who suc­cumbs? And, per­haps most of all, no mat­ter where we come from, what con­trol do we have over our destiny?
 

Pen­ny Metsch, MLS, for­mer­ly a school librar­i­an on Long Island and in New York City, now focus­es on ear­ly lit­er­a­cy pro­grams in Hobo­ken, NJ.
More from Pen­ny Metsch

Discussion Questions

Cour­tesy of Oth­er Press

1. Before Otto or Louisa, Rolf emi­grates to Amer­i­ca. He seems to have a strong vision of the Amer­i­can Dream, and to asso­ciate it with the promise of the West­ern Fron­tier. In what ways do asso­ci­at­ed themes of lib­er­a­tion and adven­ture come to fruition in his life? 

2. Dis­cuss the pow­er struc­ture evi­denced in Louisa’s rela­tion­ship with men over the course of her ado­les­cence and adult­hood. In what ways is she pow­er­ful or pow­er­less in rela­tion to these young men, notably Julian, Phillip, and Rolf? 

3. Dr. Sei­del­baum com­mits a near-fatal — and debil­i­tat­ing — error dur­ing surgery. Is there an under­ly­ing mes­sage here about the extent to which life can or can­not be controlled?

4. In World War I, Franz, Sig­mund, and Emil — Louisa’s, Rolf’s, and Otto’s fathers, respec­tive­ly — received an Iron Cross for brav­ery. They are mod­els of hero­ism. Do their prog­e­ny hon­or this mem­o­ry? Do any of them evince hero­ism them­selves, even if it takes a dif­fer­ent form?

5. As a mem­ber of the refugee com­mit­tee on which her hus­band serves, Louisa tries to min­is­ter to Ger­man Jews who are strug­gling to sur­vive in New York. In one instance, she gives rib­bon and a green bead neck­lace (p. 65), and in oth­ers, ​“lace doilies or French soap” (p. 109). Even if these gifts are friv­o­lous, are Louisa’s min­is­tra­tions to be discounted? 

6. In your view, is Mrs. Sprague manip­u­la­tive or well inten­tioned? What does she do to con­vince you of either opinion?

7. Gus­tav and Sophie Josef­tal argue about whether Rolf is being ​“cru­el” or ​“just” to Louisa once she has become par­tial­ly par­a­lyzed (p. 171). Does Rolf’s attempt to be just to her itself become a form of cru­el­ty? Is it pos­si­ble to be just and cru­el at the same time? If so, how? 

8. When Sophie Josef­tal coun­sels Louisa to fire Mrs. Sprague over her con­trol­ling care of Emma, Louisa replies that “[Emma] has the right to her loves” — in oth­er words, a right to her appar­ent pref­er­ence for Mrs. Sprague (p. 189). How do you see this issue of ​“the right to love” at play with­in the novel? 

9. What is the sig­nif­i­cance of the ​“Ori­en­tal wife” with­in the nov­el? In what ways do Louisa’s and Emma’s encoun­ters with this per­sona rein­force or con­tra­dict one another?












 

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