The House of Mirth: Obsessed with Wealth

As I continue through Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, I am growing to both like and dislike the character of Lily Bart.  I like her because she seems more complicated than first expected in the beginning of the book.  Although she was brought up to value wealth and social status above all other human attributes, she appreciates other pieces of people's personalities as well. She reflects upon her childhood and contemplates her mother's obsession with wealth and social status, and how her mother seemed to care less for her father because of the fact that he went broke.  Lily expresses that she “would not indeed have cared to marry a man who was merely rich: she was secretly ashamed of her mother’s crude passion for money” (Wharton, 27).  I also dislike Lily though because despite the fact that she is not nearly as obsessed with money as her mother had been, she ignores her instincts because she convinces herself that she is dependent upon wealth.  She hates the idea of getting married to Percy Gryce because she finds him incredibly boring; however, she continues to try to impress him and win him over simply because of his wealth and high social status.  This just really annoys me, but I understand that this is the way that society functioned at the time.  While on the subject of irksome topics in the novel, I also find the characters' constant concern for what their peers think of them very annoying.  It seems that all of the characters, no matter what age are similar to myself and my friends, except they are similar to the way we were in middle school. They all act very immature with gossip and constant regard for what others might think of their words and actions, like I did in about 6th grade.  The extreme superficiality of the society in The House of Mirth is quite obvious and obnoxious.