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.
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