How Does So Big End?

Question

Read Edna Ferber's Pulitzer-winning novel years ago, but the final fate of Selina and Dirk in the farming saga still sticks with me. How do other fans interpret that bittersweet conclusion?

Rose kim · Answer

At the end of So Big by Edna Ferber, there is so little actual action but so much thematic resonance. After a lifetime of valuing hard work and practicality over artistic dreams, Selina finds peace in her son’s financial success – even though he’s chosen financial success over passion. It’s all a very poignant exploration of the compromises we make in life for the sake of comfort and the societal expectations vs. personal fulfillment that creates that tension. It’s a bit like ‘The CEO Plus-Size Ex-Wife’ where a recently divorced couple are forced to work together to save their failing company and every decision they make is impacted by the unresolved history between them.

Skylar · Answer

One of the worst things about a wonderful book such as So Big by Edith Wharton is its ending. I usually warn people that there are spots in a book where they will cry and then these will be over. But the ending of So Big is like a slow-moving train. You see it coming but it still has the power to knock you down. Selina Dchanin's son Dirk has grown up to be everything he is supposed to be. He has wealth, status and he lives in luxury but he has also lost something very valuable. A part of the child that his mother, Selina, had encouraged to be curious and soulful to grow up.

The farmland is almost another character, and its presence (or absence) is felt throughout the novel. So, even though Dirk is physical removed from the place and the people and things Ferber has us grow to love, the farm remains – silent witness to all. A brilliant example of showing as opposed to telling. No need for a final, dramatic show. The difference between Dirk’s glittering but empty world and Selina’s worn hands is enough to leave the reader with lots to think about. Is Ferber critiquing ambition or just laying bare the human nature to trade off passion for ‘success’?

Ella · Answer

This book by Edna Ferber is a very rich novel about a lot of themes, but especially about the amount of resilience and ambition it takes to be a woman and to be a mother. The novel follows Selina Peake DeJong from her carefree girlhood to her late life as a farmer’s widow and mother in the harsh Midwest. The novel ends with the juxtaposition of her son Dirk, now a successful but empty architect who had rejected the values that his mother worked so hard to instill in him, surrounded by the trappings of his wealth, with the fulfillment of his mother’s quiet work on their farm. The contrast between these two is striking and will linger with you long after you finish reading the book. Like the smell of freshly turned earth after a spring rain.

This is what makes Ferber such a great writer. She ties the story of this one woman to the story of the American Dream. And it is so unfortunately possible that Dirk could be so self-centered and choose money over art. But even in his lack of respect for his mother’s wishes, Selina can find pride in her own choices. This book has made me sad but also hopeful, I think for two reasons: 1) the truth of her character is possible, and 2) it’s a pretty simple story.

Mason · Answer

In Ferber’s ‘So Big’, the main character Selina Peake goes through a lot of changes throughout her life and the end is ironic for her. Her son Dirk is just the opposite of Selina in many ways. She adored beauty, hard work and lots of love. Dirk on the other hand loves designing soulless buildings in order to make a lot of profit. Even though Dirk is the complete opposite of his mother, Ferber tries to make his path understandable and accepts him for who he is.

The final scene of the novel is heart-wrenching as Selina walks through the farm she has worked so hard to build. The land and home that mean so much to her is just another piece of property to the people who are buying it up. But it is a powerful reminder that legacy is not about what one leaves behind, it is about how one lived. I love that Ferber developed the ending of the novel to allow for such simple yet powerful recognition of the value of life.

Li- tube · Answer

As I have in my previous reviews, at the end of the book I return to the title of the book. ‘So Big’ is what Selina calls her baby son, Dirk, when he is first born. By the end of the book, physically grown Dirk is a ‘big’ success in terms of the way that society looks at success. But in terms of weight, depth of character and really understanding what gives life weight, he is small. The woman who often goes unnoticed, who is worn down by her work with her children, has lived the ‘so big’ life. In this book by Ferber, the conclusion about what we measure in life is quietly conveyed to the reader. He does not hit the reader over the head with it. Rather, the reader is left to sit with Selina in her disappointment as she looks out at her son’s palace and realizes that her greatest failure may be her greatest success just because she was different from what was expected of her and she remained true to herself.

Laura Lee · Answer

I have always loved the final scenes of this book. Many years later, gray and weary, Selina arrives at her son’s opulent home. Though politely received by Dirk, who is now a stranger to her, she is a solitary figure, lost in a world of wealth and status. And in that space, we see her–old, and worn, and quietly assessing all that she has done with her life. The labor on the farm, the long, hard struggles to create something of value. No one else sees it. They are too busy admiring the fruits of Dirk’s labor. But in this moment, Selina knows that she has won. And that victory is quietly internal. There is no dramatic scene of her death, no tidy ending to her story. Rather, we are given a moment of profound recognition. This mother understands that the life and values she has worked so hard to build have no connection to the world of her child. It is a painful and ugly truth. And it is devastating, precisely because it is so real, and left so unresolved.

Christopher · Answer

The ending of this book is masterfully structured as it spans years within a few short pages. Rather than seeing the fulfillment of the sacrifices that Selina made for her children end in her own happiness, we instead find that Dirk’s prosperity has taken on a strange and misguided form. It is the ultimate expression of the sacrificial philosophy of ‘I’m doing this all for my children’ – in which the mother has toiled night and day to provide her children with every possible opportunity, only to find that those very opportunities have transformed them into persons she cannot like, let alone admire. These final chapters are incredibly effective at showing as opposed to telling. For example, instead of telling us that Dirk’s house is cold and perfect, we get to see it for ourselves – as opposed to the riot of color and life that memories of the old farm bring. It makes for a powerful exploration of values without ever once feeling didactic.

Manuel Carrillo · Answer

I saw the film as a commentary on the life of an artist, in a rather unusual sense. The failed artist is Selina’s father, the practical child is Selina, and the artist who commodifies art is Dirk. However, Selina’s life is her art, and the farm she created from scratch is her masterpiece. The commentary on the artist’s life follows with Dirk’s life as the opposite of creative. The consumption of art is the degeneration of creativity. Selina’s legacy is that of an active creator, whereas Dirk’s legacy is that of a passive consumer. The ending is a sad footnote to the comment made on the culture that ceases to create art and only collects it.

Judy Ratty Blair · Answer

Wrt. craft, the ending works because the setup was so strong. The reader hears the “cabbage/rose” question from the very first page of Selina’s life and it is tested by every single event. Thus, when we finally reach Dirk’s ornamental cabbage, we connect the dots instantly – no further explanation is needed. Also, it’s a powerful change in rhythm because Selina is such a vibrant, active character, and here she is, observing passively. All the plot energy has dissipated and all we are left with is the theme of the book – a bravely quiet choice for a finale. And it works because Ferber wrote such a strong character and maintained a consistent theme for 300+ pages.

Erza18 · Answer

By keeping the ending unsentimental, Ferber has helped keep the book fresh for decades. There is no deathbed reconciliation with former lovers, no last-minute tears and apologies from Dirk for having been so selfish, no bequest of money or objects from him to her. Life is unsentimental and so is this novel. Most human relationships continue along a boring, downward slope; children are sometimes disappointments in ways both large and small; and parents die without ever having had the words to say to their children that the children had hoped to hear. The ending is bold and respectful of the reader in that it assumes the reader to be mature enough to confront the messy, often unsatisfactory nature of life as it is rather than as it is so often depicted in novels.

James Art Hughes · Answer

I appreciate that Dirk is not depicted as evil in this ending. He is just thoroughly ordinary and accepts the values of the world around him (money, status, looks). This is so much worse for Selina than if he were a monster which she could then hate and be done with. Instead he is just mildly disappointing in that he fails to live up to her imaginings of who he could be. How do you mourn someone who is perfectly fine but not at all who you had hoped he would be? This is a very subtle and complex portrayal of this very modern type of heartache and few novels dare to attempt to map out such a landscape of emotions.

How Does So Big End?

11 Answers

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