Three Things — Themes and Context

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In Category - Adventure Picaresque Fiction

Authors: Glyn, Elinor, 1864-1943 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2008 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Conduct of life; Marriage; Family Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 27,604

Reading time 121 min

Text sections 5

Three Things — Themes and Context can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 27,604 words, 2 hr 1 min estimated reading time, and 5 detected text sections.

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Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Conduct of life,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #25215

Elinor Glyn's 'Three Things' argues that Truth, Common Sense, and Happiness are life's essentials, applying this framework to marriage, divorce, and motherhood with a focus on practical reasoning and natural instincts.

Editorial Edition Score 4.6/5

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Text length15 pts
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File: pg25215

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PUBLISHERS HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO. NEW YORK

_All rights reserved, including the translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_

THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY, N. J.

INTRODUCTION I THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH II THE GOSPEL OF COMMON SENSE III MARRIAGE IV AFTER MARRIAGE V SHOULD DIVORCE BE MADE EASIER? VI THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MOTHERHOOD VII THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MOTHERHOOD. SECOND PAPER

I have called this little collection of articles which I have written "THREE THINGS" because to me there seem to be just three essentials to strive after in life. Truth--Common Sense and Happiness. To be able to see the first enables us to employ the second, and so realise the third. And in these papers I have tried to suggest some points which may be of use to others who, like myself, are endeavouring to reason out ideas to a good end.

How often one sees people who could be very happy, and who yet with incredible blindness and stupidity are running their heads against stone walls (or feather beds!) and destroying all chance of peace for themselves, their mates, and their households!

Everything is very simple when it is analysed down to what nature meant in the affair--and by doing this one gets a broader perspective.

For instance, nature meant one thing in the connection of man and woman--and civilisation has grafted quite another meaning into it, and the two things are often at war in the State called marriage! In the chapters devoted to this subject I have tried to exploit some points which are not generally faced, in the hope that if understood they might help towards Happiness.

The thing which more than half of humanity seems to forget is _the end they have in view_! They desire something really ardently, and yet appear incapable of keeping their minds from straying into side issues, which must logically militate against, and probably prevent, their desire's accomplishment. This is very strange! A woman for instance profoundly desires to retain a man's love when she sees it is waning--but her wounded vanity causes her to use methods of reproach and recrimination towards him, calculated certainly to defeat her end, and accelerate his revolt.

I feel that in publishing this little collection in America I must ask indulgence for the parts which seem to touch upon exclusively English aspects of the subjects under discussion--because the main ideas apply to humanity in general and not to any particular country. The paper on Divorce is of course written from an English point of view, but its suggestions may be of some use to those who are interested in the question of divorce in the abstract, and are on the alert as to the results of its facilities in America. I do not presume to offer an opinion as to its action there; and in this paper am not making the slightest criticism of the American divorce laws--only stating what seems to me should rule all such questions in any country, namely,--Common sense and consideration for the welfare of the community.

Above all things I am an incorrigible optimist! and I truly believe that the world is advancing in every way and that we are already in the dawn of a new era of the understanding, and the exploitation for our benefit of the great forces of nature. But we of the majority of non-scientists, were until so lately sound asleep to any speculative ideas, and just drowsed on without thinking at all, that it behooves us now that we are awake in the new century to try to see straight and analyse good and evil.

In my papers on the Responsibility of Motherhood I may be quite out of touch with American ideas--but I will chance that in the hope that some parts of them may be of service, taken broadly.

ELINOR GLYN. PARIS, 1914.

THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH

The Old order changeth, giving place to New; and it would be well to realise this everlasting fact before we decide that the world is waxing evil, and the times are waxing late. And who can say that out of the seething of the present some noble and glorious ideals of life for men and women may not spring?

Surely it is unwise to read in the writing upon the wall, as so many do, only a pessimistic presage of inevitable death. If there is writing for students of evolution to read, then it should be taken as a warning indication which direction to avoid and which to take. Unrest is a sign, not of decay, but of life. Stagnation alone gives warning of death.

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Elinor Glyn opens Three Things by declaring that life requires just three essentials: Truth, Common Sense, and Happiness. This collection of essays applies that triad to marriage, divorce, and motherhood, treating each as a problem to be solved by clear-eyed analysis rather than sentiment. Glyn repeatedly contrasts what “nature meant” with what “civilisation has grafted” onto human relations, especially in marriage. She warns that people often defeat their own desires—for instance, a woman who wants to keep a man’s love but uses reproach to drive him away. The book’s structure moves from general principles to specific applications, with each chapter testing the three essentials against a different social institution.

The Three Essentials as a Structural Framework

Glyn announces her three essentials in the introduction and then uses them as a lens for every subsequent topic. Truth, Common Sense, and Happiness are not merely themes but organizing principles: each chapter asks how a given subject—marriage, divorce, motherhood—can be understood through these three. For example, she writes that seeing Truth enables us to employ Common Sense, and so realize Happiness. This triadic structure gives the book a logical progression from abstract philosophy to concrete advice. The reader can track how each essay returns to the same three pillars, creating a consistent argument across disparate subjects.

Recurring Images of Restraint and Freedom

Glyn repeatedly uses images of physical constraint to describe marriage. She asks readers to “chain any two animals together and watch the result,” arguing that only when the two beasts are “of one mind” do the chains stop galling. This metaphor appears in the marriage chapter and echoes in her discussion of divorce, where she implies that legal bonds can become unbearable. The image of running “heads against stone walls (or feather beds)” similarly contrasts hard obstacles with soft, deceptive ones. These recurring figures give the book a tactile, almost visceral sense of what marriage feels like from the inside.

Movement Between Abstract Principle and Practical Example

Glyn shifts constantly from general maxims to specific, often domestic scenarios. She states that “everything is very simple when it is analysed down to what nature meant,” then immediately applies this to the “connection of man and woman.” In the divorce chapter, she moves from the Royal Commission’s report to a hypothetical couple’s daily life. This back-and-forth structure keeps the argument grounded: abstract ideas are always tested against recognizable situations, such as a woman trying to retain a man’s love or a couple’s “daily life” mattering more than grand questions. The effect is a book that feels both philosophical and practical.

The Role of Self-Control and Deliberate Intelligence

Throughout the excerpts, Glyn emphasizes that happiness in marriage requires deliberate effort, not just emotion. She writes that “nearly all love marriages begin with too much emotion and too little self-control” and that partners must “deliberately use every atom of his or her intelligence” to live in sympathy. This emphasis on conscious reasoning recurs in the motherhood papers, where she implies that instinct alone is insufficient. The book thus positions itself as a guide to rational self-management, urging readers to treat marriage as a problem to be solved rather than a fate to be endured. This consistent focus on will and intelligence gives the essays a unified, almost instructional tone.

Tension Between Nature and Civilisation

Glyn repeatedly contrasts natural instincts with social conventions. She states that “nature meant one thing in the connection of man and woman—and civilisation has grafted quite another meaning into it,” and that these two are “often at war in the State called marriage.” This opposition runs through the divorce and marriage chapters, where she argues that religious or legal dogmas may conflict with common sense. She carefully distinguishes between those who follow church laws and those who do not, but insists that even secular readers can benefit from her analysis. The book thus navigates a middle ground between traditional morality and pragmatic reform.

Readers approaching Three Things will find a compact, argument-driven work that rewards attention to its recurring images and logical structure. Glyn’s habit of moving from abstract principle to concrete example makes the essays accessible, while her frank discussion of marriage’s difficulties remains striking. The book is best read as a series of linked arguments rather than a narrative, with each chapter building on the three essentials announced at the start.

That rainy afternoon, Three Things kept circling back to grief—how common sense rarely comforts the bereaved. I set it down, and my hand drifted to an old volume, An Address Delivered at the Interment of Mrs. Harriet Storrs, Consort of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1834. — A Closer Reading, and there it was—not logic, but the quiet shape of truth in a widow’s eulogy.