CHAPTER 14 – The Small Summer Hotel

The eccentricities of American culture, particularly the predilection for staying in small summer hotels despite the accessibility of more luxurious accommodations, form the crux of Chapter 14 of “Worldly Ways and Byways.” The author wonders why well-off Americans opt to spend considerable time in hotels and boarding houses, musing that an explorer need not journey afar to study fascinating habits when such peculiarities abound in New England. The author recounts a personal experience staying in a small summer hotel, where despite the discomforts and minimal amenities, the guests, who could otherwise afford better, seem content.

These hotels offered modest rooms barely furnished with necessities and uncomfortable beds, with cleanliness as their only commendable feature. The absence of baths, the limited and poorly prepared food, and the enforced community life paint a picture of stark simplicity and lack of privacy. Meals, devoid of culinary zeal, are served at strict times, and guests rush through them, seemingly eager to return to idleness or perfunctory social interactions that replace genuine communal joy. The disdain for branding such establishments as “boarding-houses” or “hotels” by the proprietors, who feigned a host-guest relationship thereby obscuring the commercial nature of the lodging, underscores a peculiar social dance around the commercial aspects of hospitality.

Moreover, the social dynamics within these settings are fraught with forced interactions, a blurring of personal boundaries, and a strange pretense of familial union among strangers. The narrative underscores the oddity of preferring such accommodations, where privacy is sacrificed, and all semblances of personal space and comfort are eschewed for a communal experience that offers neither the warmth of true community nor the dignity of solitude.

This chapter eloquently critiques this aspect of American society, questioning the value placed on communal living spaces that offer minimal comfort and privacy. It highlights a unique cultural phenomenon where the norms of privacy, comfort, and individuality are willingly suspended for experiences that offer neither luxury nor true communal belonging.