SHE DIES!? I could not believe the ending to The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. I was completely taken by surprise. Lily had just met that Nettie Struther who felt excessive gratitude for her. This sudden increase to Lily's confidence and pride seemed to fill her with enough spirit to make it a little farther in life. Her depression seemed to weaken as her visit with this kind woman strengthened her. As I read, it seemed that holding Nettie's child and seeing how that family was able to pull out of such tough time was reenergizing her spirit.
As Lily lay in bed that night after the meeting of that kind woman, she felt whole again. Wharton says on page 262, "She had been unhappy, and now she was happy-she felt herself alone, and now the sense of loneliness had vanished." If Lily was to never wake up (which happened) I believe Wharton set her up to die happy and stress free.
The fact that Selden was coming to Lily that day makes me a little perturbed. It makes this love story all the more sad.This was probably the worst ending to a book I have ever read. It was just waay too sad for me.
I began to feel excessive grief in these chapters of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. As Lily was speaking to Selden, I could hardly keep myself from feeling that passion with her. There was much symbolism in these chapters. Lily's plan was to leave her good side, the side Selden had always known. The side she knew he had once and always loved. "There is someone I must say goodbye to...the Lily Bart you knew. I have kept her with me all this time,, but now we are going to prt, and I have brought her back to you-I am going to leave her here. When I go out presently she will not go with me. I shall like to think that she has stayed with you-and she'll be no trouble, she'll take up no room" (Wharton, pg251). This quote almost made me cry. She clearly came back to Selden to tell him how much she appreciated and loved him. I feel like she is leaving the side of her to him that she always wanted to become. The side that she could have become with him and with his marriage. However, for whatever reason she felt it was too late to follow this dream. I think her plan was going to be to somehow get married, maybe even to Rosedale if she could. I don't think she even wanted to do this all.Lily's process of clearing her name and clearing her debt seemed to include clearing her mind of her forsaken love to Selden. As she softly kissed him goodbye, I knew at that moment she symbolically said goodbye to the rest of her happiness.
These next several chapters in The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton produced many quotes that seemed important to me. Also, I was a bit confused by some events that transpired.
"it was easy enought to despise the world, but decidedly difficult to find any other habitable region" (Wharton, pg212). This quote right away made alot of sense to me. In terms of this book, it was easy for Lily to hate the world, society, drama, and her family and friends around her; however, it was extremely difficult for her to do something about it. She had seemed to go through all of her resources. She had used up all of her lifelines and lives. Now, it seemed she was at a dead end. What is worse than being stuck in a place you despise and have no way of getting out of?
I have a bad feeling about what will happen to Lily. She seems terribly depressed and at her wits end. She even has a bit of a breakdown in front of her dear friend Gerty Farish. One quote from this that struck me as a little funny and ironic was, "Miss Bart had not revealed to Gerty the full extent of her anxiety" (Wharton, pg217). I found this a little satirical as I read the dialogue between Miss Bart and Mrs.Farish. It seemed to me that she let herself completely go and confided in her dear friend. If that wasn't Lily showing her full anxiety, then I don't want to see what her full feelings are.
I was also confused on a few levels. Gerty and Selden seemed to be rather digusted at the idea that Lily was staying with Mrs.Hatch. I could not understand through the reading what was so wrong with her. As I read through chapter 10, the only thing I could tell was she was involved with prescription drugs. Was she a bad influence?
These chapters in The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton allowed me to see the contrast between men and women of this society. The fact that Rosedale was so eager to marry Lily just under a year earlier and now turned her down was astonishing. However, he was still wanting to be "friends with benefits." Wharton says on page 206, " 'What i syour idea of being good friends?' she returned with a slight smile. 'Making love to me without asking me to marry you?' Rosedale laughed with a recovered sense of ease. 'Well, that's about the size of it, I suppose.' " Mr.Rosedale's frankness here was exactly what I needed to grasp the thought process of men during these times. Rosedale acknowledges that Miss Lily Bart's worth and value have gone down as the year has progressed. I suppose my thoughts of this society were correct. Once a woman is talked about in high drama and scandals, men cannot afford to go after them. Once anyone is labeled as scandalous, there is no fixing it.
The fact that Rosedale was still wanting Lily to have relations with him without marrying him is beyond me. I cannot imagine coming up to me and expecting me to go along with that. It was as if Rosedale put himself so high up on his pedestal that he felt Lily would feel special to be his lucky friend.
This isn't so different from our society today. Many young and old men subject themselves to this way of thinking. Starting as young as high school, some boys seem to think that girls want to be used and then thrown away. Sorry to those men, but all women with any self-respect will gladly turn that down.
I believe that in The House of Mirth, Wharton's intention of Mattie Gormer and the rest of her clan was to act as a way to bring Lily Bart back to reality. These minor characters were used in the role of self-realization for Lily. "Miss Bart's arrival had been welcomed with an uncritical friendliness that first irritated her pride and then brought her to a sharp sense of her own situation" (Wharton, pg189). I believe that starting fresh was a good idea with this new group of friends. Lily was able to be liked without their prior thoughts and judgements of her.
These characters allowed Lily to see her true situation and to allow her to regain confidence in herself. Mattie Gormer was extremely nice to Lily and accepted her with no questions asked. All of the group seemed to take in Lily nicely; even Lily herself seemed to grow a much closer bond with these women. I feel like they were all better able to relate to one another.
However. After all of this freshness of making new friends, Lily Bart is still faced with the realization of society. Mrs.Fisher had to lay down the terms to Lily that she needed to marry as soon as possible. Lily wasn't getting any younger and she has made quite a name for herself within the past year during the course of this novel. I still feel that getting married should not be just an act of getting out of rumors or scandals. I believe that a person should marry for love and for no deeper purposes more. By the end of this novel, I bet Lily Bart marries Lawrence Selden.
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth continues to surprise me. I have actually grown to like this book. Up until these last few chapters, I have felt the plot be long and uneventful. Now I can see how the drama is becoming stacked up. I have changed my mind on the climax of the story. I believe that it is now in chapter 3. "Lily turned to obey; but as she did so, Mrs.Dorset, who had paused on her way out, moved a few steps back toward the table. 'Miss Bart is not going back to the yacht,' she said in a voice of singular distinctiveness" (Wharton, pg176). This quote stands for the point in the novel where all of Lily Bart's actions have built up and have finally left her stranded. Now Lily is defenseless and alone. Selden also forces Lily to go back and live with her aunt who had doubt in her already. THEN, Lily was disinherited from her aunt's fortune. Her cousin Grace who did steal Mrs.Peniston's money from Lily even told her that it was she who brought on the death of their dear aunt. I'm not really sure why this Grace keeps throwing Lily under the bus. I suppose it's because she has been seen below Lily her whole life behind beauty and her aunt's approval. Then in these last few months of Mrs.Peniston's life, she swayed their aunt's mind enough to make Grace the new favorite.
As Book 2 develops in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, I am really confused. I guess I just don't understand these cruises that all of these people are going on. Selden left with the Dorsets and Lily ends up going on one as well. It just appeared to me as such a random turn of events in this plot.
Was Selden running away from Lily? And if he was, why was he? I thought Selden was supposed to be meeting Lily for a get together at some point at the end of Book 1. As this book begins, the reader can already tell that Selden still has feelings for Lily Bart when Wharton says, "Now he suddenly felt the latent ache, and realised that after all he had not come off unhurt" (Wharton, pg150). This means that Selden had thought he was over Lily, but now these feeling that were asleep in his mind were woken up by just the mere mentioning of her name. My guess would be that a bad mouthing of Lily had steered his surface vision of her, but it was not enough to change the feelings he had deep down in his heart.
What also struck me as odd, was Mr. Dorset completely let all of his emotions go in front of Lily while they were alone together (again Lily is allowing herself to get put into the middle of all of these odious situations). Mr. Dorset confided in Lily in all of the terrors in his marriage. I never realized how close those two were that he would beg of Lily's help for a divorce.
In Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, Lily Bart's character change is extremely significant. The change has been made ever so apparent in chapter 14. Throughout the course of this novel, we see Lily change from wanting to marry rich and that aspect of society being her number one priority to having mixed emotions about that life and being who she really is deep down. Now I see that she really could leave pleasing society and remain her own person. Wharton says on page 126, "The fact that her life had never satisfied her proved that she was made for better things. She might have married more than once-the conventional rich marriage which she had been taught to consider the sole of existence- but when the opportunity came she had always shrunk from it."
Lily had been raised to think that marrying into the rich community would save her life. Here, she brings this up as proving my opinion early on that she resents it. Wharton says that Lily could have been married already but had shyed away at every opportunity. I believe this is because she knows she deserves better. Lily knows that once she is married into that life, there is no turning back. I also feel that once she gets married into the riches, she won't want to turn back. That scares Lily the most I think; losing herself to the temptations of other people's opinions. If Lily remains single, and continues to play along, she can pretend that there is still hope.
Edith Wharton in The House of Mirth has really portrayed George Trenor as a creep in chapter 13. I really believe his temptations for Lily have really gotten the best of him. He has trapped Lily in a situation that she cannot seem to get herself out of. This seems to be a climax of the story. Her life is about to be turned all the way around. Lily just bailed on Lawrence Selden to dine with Judy Trenor; however, George Trenor set her up to look like she is in an affair with him. "I did play a trick on you; I own up to it; but if you think I'm ashamed you're mistaken" (Wharton, pg117).
In this society, it seems to be true that once a woman is talked of, she is done. One of Lily's dominant traits is that of vanity. She has let her wanting to be adored by all men overtake her reputation. I believe that throughout the rest of this novel, Lily Bart will not be able to get this back.
Lily even admits to herself that she has become someone she is not proud of. "...there were two selves in her, the one she had always known and a new abhorrent being to which it found itself chained" (Wharton, pg120). Miss Bart had always felt she was different deep down than what society had in store for her. She felt that in her heart she didn't want what was to be expected of her. However, now Lily feels that she cannot get herself out of this hole she has dug for herself.
I found a metaphor in these chapters of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton that showed how Lily felt when it came to dealing with Mr. Trenor. "It was Trenor himself who frightened her. Their walk in the Park had not been a success. Trenor had married young, and since his marriage his intercourse with women had not taken the form of the sentimental small-talk which doubles upon itself like the paths in a maze. He was first puzzled and then irritated to find himself always led back to the same starting-point, and Lily felt that she was gradually losing control of the situation" (Wharton, pg104). I believe that Trenor has some other expectations of Lily than just having her as a friend. "...his intercourse with women..." tells me that this has happened before with other women not just with Lily Bart. I can also draw from this that these other relations with women have never fully satisfied him. He loves his wife but since he "married young," he was beginning to look around at all the other women. I feel that the "paths in a maze" mostly symbolizes his unfaithful actions with other women that he can never seem to get himself out of. These "small-talk (actions) which doubles" have probably started out friendly and harmless but have led to unfaithfulness and deceit. Consequently, Trenor is then always left by these women who realize they are being used. This seems to irritate him and make him more eager for more. Lastly, I have drawn from this passage that Lily has followed Trenor down this path. She has been led by this man into a maze that she cannot find her way out of, and she has to give in to Trenor if she has any hope of finding a loop hole.
"If you would forgive your enemy, says the Malay proverb, first inflict a hurt on him" (Wharton, pg97). Edith Wharton in The House of Mirth uses this proverb at a very crucial point in her plot. I took a deeper understanding of this quote. I believe the Wharton means that, in Lily's case, for her to fully forgive Bertha Dorset, she must first get even with her. Likewise, as long as Lily possessed those letters she bought, she could somehow find a way to turn the tide of the action.
As the story progresses, I haven't really seen any change in Lily Bart's character in the way that she is extremely vain. It also doesn't seem to matter who is admiring her. Miss Bart just must like the attention. "Ah, it was good to be young, to be radiant, to glow with the sense of slenderness, strength and elasticity, of well-poised lines and happy tints, to feel oneself liftered to a height apart be that incommunicable grace which is the bodily counterpart of genius!" (Wharton, pg94).
However, I feel that Lily seems to only feel self-confident about her appearance when things seem to be going her way. When she is lacking in confidence of the outside world, Lily begins to see her flaws. Similarly, she attributes her disappointments and failures to these facial and bodily flaws.
In the last quote I listed above on page 94, I thought that might have been repetition in the use of short phrases beginning with "to" in a long series.
I believe in these chapters of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, I started to see how society really has effect of the issues presented in this book. Married women and single women have totally different standards, yet all women are held to the same standard at the exact same time. One example is, "It all turned on the tiresome distinction between what a married woman might, and a girl might not, do. Of course it was shocking for a married woman to borrow money" (Wharton, pg64). Single women cannot seem to eager or fast on men but must compose themselves. Married women seem to be able to speak to whoever they please so long as their husbands don't mind. In this novel, I feel as though the husbands aren't in love with their wives as much as other stories have portrayed marriage. The husbands seem to look to them as possessions that were once valuable to them but now they are eager to meet fresh ones. In this way, I believe all girls in this society are treated the same in a way. Men have a mindset of "on to the next one."
Lily is beginning to upset her chances of remaining respectable if she continues to linger about married men. I have a feeling that borrowing money from Mr. Trenor was a bad idea for only that I feel he has more in mind than just investment tips and strategies. I predict that this could come back to bite her. Lily begins to juggle with the emotions of multiple men in chapter 8.
Lily Bart appears to have two personalities as the House of Mirth by Edith Wharton develops. She seems to be stuck between two worlds: rich or easy-going. Her entire life has been built around marrying into money to keeps one's name respectable; however, she seems to be questioning this. It seems now that she is stuck between the lives of Percy Gryce or Lawrence Selden. Even Mr. Gryce saw her true colors when it says, "...and he was glad to find that Miss Bart, for all her ease and self-possession, was not at home in so ambiguous an atmosphere" (Wharton, pg41). I believe Gryce really did see right through Lily. She really does not fit into this society. It seems to me that she doesn't want to get strapped down and give into all the pressures a married woman in society must remember. "How alluring the world outside the cage appeared to Lily, as she heard its door clang on her!" (Wharton, pg43).
As Miss Bart is having internal conflicts over what she really feels she wants out of life, she starts to see the lives of those around her under a better microscope. "How different they had all seemed to her a few hours ago! Then they had symbolised what she gaining, now they stood for what she was giving up" (Wharton, pg44).
As chapter 6 progressed, I feel that the way Lily acts around Selden shows that she is truly in love with him. I feel that if she could chose right now who to marry, without worrying about money or societal drama, she would pick Selden just because of how free she comes off around him. "She admired him most of all, perhaps, for being able to convey as distinct a sense of superiority as the richest man she had ever met" (Wharton, pg52). This example shows clearly how Lily hold Selden above the rest of the men she has encountered.
http://youtu.be/kU4tm5Livzc The movie is almost dead on with the book! I was reading as they talked and it is almost word for word!
As Edith Wharton's House of Mirth progresses, the character of Miss Lily Bart is becoming more obvious. I can tell that she relys almost solely on her looks. She is portrayed as a beautiful woman, yet she seems to work extremely hard at it. "...she was frightened by two little lines near her mouth, faint flaws in the smooth curve of her cheek" (Wharton, pg21). Even as little as tiny wrinkles around her mouth starts to bother her. I believe she feels that if she loses her looks and the youngness in her face, then she may not be as favorable as a wife for future prospects.
I also believe that her mother was the cause of all of her worries on this matter. When Lily's mother says to her, " 'But you'll get it all back-you'll get it all back, with your face...,' " (Wharton, pg22) she means that as long as Lily's appearance was desirable, she was still valuable to her family. Since her family had lost all their wealth, her mother turned to Lily to save them from the pit they were just destined to. The only way out, however, was for Lily's face to marry rich. Even on page 26, Lily's beauty was compared to the nucleus of their existance. I feel that Lily took great pressure in this and maybe even resented her mother for it. For example Lily says, "she was secretly ashamed of her mother's crude passion for money" (Wharton, pg27).
Throughout these chapters, my favorite quote would have to be "Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is easy to break than a stiff one" (Wharton, pg28). This sentence really defines who Lily Bart is and how her character traits will weaken as the course of the story develops. It seems to be foreshadowing for the rest of the book as well.
As I began reading The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, I began to understand some of the traits of a few characters. Wharton starts out talking about Mr. Selden. He seems to have almost a crush on Miss Lily Bart who is being portrayed as an extremely beautiful woman. I was confused when at the bottom of the first page through the top of the second page it says, "Was it really eleven years? Selden found himself wondering, and had she indeed reached the nine-and-twentieth birthday with which her rivals credited her?"(Wharton, pg1-2). This made me wonder if Selden had had previous relations with Miss Bart years before, maybe even eleven years since he had seen her.
This story seems to take place in a more simple time in New York. I've concluded that this is a time when women have less rights and less say. Lily Bart expresses her grief in this aspect of society when she says, " 'How delicious to have a place like this all to one's self! What a miserable thing it is to be a woman!' She leaned back in a luxury of discontent" (Wharton, pg4).
Mr. Rosedale is another character portrayed well in the beginning of this novel. I viewed him as a sneaky, big-mouth who feels obligated to pass on gossip to any and all who will hear it. I wonder if his encounter with Lily Bart and her lie will become a problem and conflict for Lily Bart later on in the story.
I found a few examples of figurative language. I found a simile, "...his ingenuous face looking as though it had been dipped in crimson..." (Wharton, pg 13). I also found a metaphor, "He had a mental palate which would never learn to distinguish between railway tea and nectar" (Wharton, pg 14).
