The One Woman

by Thomas Dixon Jr.

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215 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

Thomas Frederick Dixon Jr. was a Southern Baptist minister, playwright, lecturer, North Carolina state legislator, lawyer, and author.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Lauren Goldie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Rating it 4.5 stars. This book kept me very interested throughout because whenever I thought it was going one way, it through a curveball in the mix. And as more and more events unfolded, I kept switching my opinions of certain characters. And who I was rooting for in the beginning, I was utterly against by the end.
At first, I was on the side of Frank and Kate. Yes, I felt badly for Ruth, and think Frank went about things in an awful way, but still I thought he should be with Kate if he no longer loved Ruth. To me, it seemed like Frank was polyamorous and wanted to be in an open marriage and Ruth did not. But, it turns out he's not actually polyamorous, he's just a typical male hypocrite. "I should be able to be free as a man and be true to my heart's desire at any given moment." but also "Kate, how DARE you spend more time with another man than me. I am your master....but also I'm free to do as I please" ....whaaaaaaat? So, then I was on the side of Ruth. She's great and I love her and think she's amazing in every way except I just WISH she would get over Frank and not continue to always be there for him when he didn't deserve it at all. I didn't want her to be with Morris either though. His love was kind of creepy and extra, similar to the way Ruth loves Frank. I don't agree with her doing it, and so I also don't like it when Morris does it to her. And by the end all I could think of was how much of a cuck Morris actually is. I just wish Frank and Kate could've been in a functioning open marriage. Ruth and Morris could've both respectively gone their separate ways and find happiness and fulfillment on their own. And low-key I was kind of hoping Ruth was going to let Kate die in that fire. Not because I really wanted Kate to die at that moment, but just because it would have been a SAVAGE move on Ruth's part. And the last thing I have to say is the ending is so so sad. And even though everything is technically resolved, the ending feels unsatisfying and just kind of sad. lol
Again, loved the book. Definitely recommend it. It was fun reading something from 1903.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

The novel is a little less startling than Dixon's other novel, which inspired Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." It's no surprise here that Dixon writes about the need of hierarchy--again. However, "The One Woman" presents growing concerns against populist socialism. Where other novels of the same period reflect on the inequalities in America, Dixon argues that those inequalities, well, are a good thing. Not all can be equal. The average guy, according to Dixon, can continue living in New York City's squalor because the only people that really matter are the wealthy.

The main character, Frank Gordon, is a pastor turned socialist lord. Gordon believes in humanitarianism and charitable deeds to help human kind. Don't get confused here. Gordon is the "foolish" guy. Talk about Social Darwinism?

Gordon's got a "sensible" friend, Mark Overman, who preaches against the ways of socialism--particularly the primitive qualities of it. According to Overman, there is too much freedom, and the people run around, oversexed. There is no marriage or valuing of the family unit. Everyone is free. Overman relates the socialists "way of life" to that of pigs. This sets the theme for the rest of the novel.

Then there's the "sinuous" Kate Ransom with her socialist red lips and hair. She lures Gordon away from his family and his wife, Ruth. Together Gordon and Kate live together in a relationship based on lust and freedom.

Ruth represents the family unit and the value of marriage. Even though Gordon divorces her and abandons the family, she will have no other man because "woman was only meant for one man." Yeah. Predictably, the novel continues on with the triumph of the Conservatives and Ruth's devotion to Gordon.

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The One Woman is about a hypocrite preacher. I thoroughly didn't like him. When the story opens, he's married with young children. Along the way he becomes involved with another woman. In his mind, this is True Love and his wife should be more understanding and freely step aside so that he can be with the woman God meant him to be with. [Insert puking noise here.]

Eventually the spineless wife does allow the divorce, although she'll always love her loser husband. She and the children fall onto hard times because there was no child support in those days.

Meanwhile, the hypocrite preacher and his new wife are becoming a hit in the Christian world. But as it was bound to do, the new wears off and the wife begins to tire of the husband and she starts to stray. This is where the hypocrisy begins. While it was perfectly fine, even ordained by God, for the preacher to be messing around with another woman with his first wife, when he discovers his second wife has something on the side, he's ready to kill. In fact, I think he does. (It's kind of been awhile since I've read it.) Somehow he does end up in jail and the only person to stand by him his is faithful first wife. Finally realizing which woman God meant for him to be with, when the preacher is released from jail, he returns to the mother of his children.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just like the way Dixon writes. All of his books are filled with interesting characters and plots.