The Test (novel)

The Test

cover of first edition
Author	Mary Tappan Wright
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Charles Scribner's Sons
Publication date	1904
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	360
Preceded by	Aliens
Followed by	The Tower

The Test is a novel by Mary Tappan Wright. It was first published in hardcover by Charles Scribner's Sons in February, 1904. It was Wright's second published novel and third published book.

The story takes place in the college town of Genoa in the Middle West. The heroine, Alice Lindell, secretary to Senator Winchester, is engaged to the senator's son Tom. She attempts to wean Tom away from his weakness for liquor by prematurely giving in to his desire for her, with disastrous results; Tom backslides, and while drunk falls victim to the wiles of another admirer, the unscrupulous Harriet, who marries him. Repenting his folly, he resolves to leave Harriet and run away with Alice, but is persuaded by the latter to fulfill his marriage vows and henceforth conduct himself honorably.

Alice courageously faces the shame of bearing and rearing their illegitimate daughter Anna alone. This ordeal is the test of the title—of herself, her family, and her community. Her story is paralleled in a subplot involving Sallie, a sinner of a lower sort. Over the years Alice is supported by some, notably the senator, but vilified by most of the small-minded townsfolk, including her own mother. Her sister Gertrude, engaged to the priggish clergyman John Prescott, also suffers, her intended suddenly developing cold feet at the news of Alice's indiscretion. Perhaps the height of Alice's suffering is reached when Harriet, having lost her own child, importunes her to let her have Anna instead; persuaded it would be in the best interest of her daughter, Alice finally complies.

In time her enduring patience effects her moral recovery in the eyes of the town, and her example succeeds in inspiring Tom to complete his own personal regeneration. In the conclusion Harriet's death frees them to marry each other, and the two depart Genoa to begin a new life together.

Reaction to the novel was mixed among reviewers. The New York Times "found some difficulty in getting at the [author's] purpose, ethical or artistic," concluding that it was "as a study of the human conscience, its powers and its limitations," that the novel was to be regarded. Finding the story unpleasant and its characters "generally unlikable," it yet declared it "a book distinctly well written, if to write well, in making fiction, is to so write as to hold the attention of even an unwilling reader and compel him to note with something like admiration the skillful development of the traits of personages for whom he feels no liking whatever." In spite of this dislike, the reviewer noted that Wright "knows her trade as novelist. As novelists go she is one among ten thousand. … [She] has a keen sense of humor, good descriptive powers, a good working knowledge of human nature, an effective style. She can tell a story well."