Haskett’s Tie Symbol Analysis

Haskett’s tie signifies his greatest flaw in Alice’s eyes: he is not a “brute,” rather, he is common. Waythorn sees Haskett’s noticeably ragged tie the first time he meets him and immediately realizes that the man is not at all who he expected him to be. In fact, he goes so far as to consider Haskett’s “made-up,” shabby tie to be “the key to Alice’s past.” Before learning the truth about Haskett, the man—and Mrs. Waythorn’s life with him—was cloaked in mystery, and Mr. Waythorn had been able to believe that his wife was the blameless victim of a cruel, brutish husband. Seeing Haskett’s tie, however, permits Waythorn to discover the truth behind the Haskett marriage and divorce, and to see the desperate desire for social advancement that motivates Alice’s numerous marriages. The appearance of Haskett’s tie represents a crucial moment of conflict in the story, in which Waythorn must seriously question the assumptions he has made about his wife’s history and personality.