The House of Mirth: I Vote Seldon

Lawrence Selden

Gus Trenor

Percy Gryce

At this point in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth there are three main men in Miss Lily Bart's life, all contending for her attention.  There is the extremely wealthy Simon Rosedale whom Lily doesn't much care for but is kind to because he knows of her situation with Gus Trenor and has other dirt on hear as well, like the day he saw her exiting Selden's apartment.  Then there is Gus Trenor himself, the married man who is obviously very attracted to Lily and yearns to control her.  Trenor is nothing short of creepy as he tries more and more fervently to spend more time, preferably alone, with Lily.  He even lies to her about his wife being out of town and invites he to his house very late in the night, something entirely inappropriate for a single women to do whether or not the man in question was married.  I feel so bad for Lily, she is already in a huge mess and it seems to me that all the characters are similarly making her situation worse and worse in any way they can.  The only other character besides Lily that i particularly like is Lawrence Selden.  I have a suspicion that Edith Wharton was a humble women in society like Gerty or similar to Selden's class because the writing seems to favor him and his free lifestyle and she points out many of the bad aspects of wealthy socialite life.  Anyways, Selden loves Lily and I really think that Lily shares his feelings.  She always is happy to see him and he seems the only man with which she can freely converse. Selden admits to her, "The only way I can help you is by loving you" (Wharton, 113).  Awwww!! I know that Selden's love would convince me that he is the best choice as far as a husband is concerned, but Lily must consider the negatives of the situation that would accompany her marrying Seldon. Her wealth and status would take a huge hit, and as I have gotten to know her superficial need for extravagance, is a horrible tragedy in the mind of Lily Bart.  The real tragedy is that unless Lily can look past the unnecessary aspects of her life, the perks that come with being born into wealth, she will lose something far more valuable than the riches: a life full of love and happiness.  I think that one theme of Edith Wharton's novel might be this, that a person must look beyond superficialities in order to find happiness.  This is a reoccurring theme in various stories i have read or seen in movies.  Although it's the middle of July, the example of Scrooge in the classic Christmas story comes to mind.  I am sure you're familiar with the story, how Scrooge earns his living off practically robbing the poor with his stinginess and extreme lack of guilt. He is an extremely unhappy man, getting mere satisfaction from sitting in his office and counting his piles of money. As he is visited by three ghosts on the night of Christmas Eve, the ghosts reveal to him that he was far happier as a younger, poorer man than he is now, alone because he chased all his friends away in his efforts to become wealthy.  Well, I have really gotten off the topic that I intended to write this blog about, so anyways, I wish Lily would choose Selden. He has put himself out there and admitted his love, and still takes this for granted (possibly another theme: Lily's overconfidence and the consequences that arise because of her disdain for the feelings of others). Hopefully Lily can realize her mistake before it is too late.

The House of Mirth: Forshadowing

So Lily now suspects that her recent "luck" in the stock market is not really lucky at all.  She has received numerous hits from the very wealthy and aspiring social-cliber, Simon Rosedale, who is close friends with Gus Trenor.  Mr. Trenor is also giving off a for boding sense of the fact that Lily is indebted to him.  I feel really bad for her in the sense that she doesn't wish to spend time with either Gus Trenor or Simon Rosedale, but in her current circumstance, she is forced to.  Lilly thinks, "it was distasteful enough to hear her name coupled with Trenor's, and on Rosedale's lips the allusion was peculiarly unpleasant" (Wharton, 92).  Lily certainly isn't making any friends with her snobbish attitude.  In my opinion, she is also far too confident for her own good.  She thinks that she is above everyone else because of her extravagant looks and him social status; however, she doesn't realize the enemies that she's making along the way.  One particularly dangerous enemy Lily creates with her snobbish attitude is her cousin Grace Stepney, whom Lily had uninvited from a party at their aunt Mrs. Peniston's house.  Grace in turn tells Mrs. Peniston of the rumors flying around about Lily's recent actions.  She informs Lily's aunt of Lily's recent affiliations with Gus Trenor and of her mountain of gambling debts.  I immediately don't like Grace Stepney at all and I think she could potential be even more dangerous further into the novel.  She seems one of those characters who is simply out to get everyone else and for no apparent reason.  She already doesn't like Lily because she was not invited to the party, and I think she'll now take every opportunity to get back at her.  Lily better watch out because she now has much more than one enemy and a lot to lose. Again, she's walking on thin ice.

The House of Mirth: Blackmail

BLACKMAIL

Congrats Edith Wharton, you've done it again.  It seems that Wharton's style can be summed up very nicely into a single phrase: roller coaster.  At every calm moment of The House of Mirth, Wharton spikes up the action with another drastic turn of events.  One minute Lily is having a nice conversation with her aunt, and then a fees pages later, she is being blackmailed.  I also thought it was very creative how Wharton introduced the reader to the charwomen, Mrs. Haffen, several times before revealing her role in the novel.  In hindsight, I probably should have suspected that the women might play a larger role in the plot because of the odd way she seemed to act and just the fact that Wharton put any emphasis on what appeared to be a very static character.  Lily's situation can really go nowhere but up at this point.  Her top marriage candidate is now engaged, leaving her again the beautiful but lonely twenty-nine-year-old single woman; she is still amidst improving, yet still problematic, financial difficulty; and now she is being blackmailed with letters that she did not write.  I admire her decision to buy the letters to protect her friend Seldon despite the fact that "She felt herself in the presence of something vile, as yet but dimly conjectured," (Wharton, 84).   It is impressive that though she seems very shallow, she is able to hold on to her sense of morals in the midst of her dire circumstance. I wonder what she will end up doing with the letters.  I know that she originally had no harmful intentions in mind when she bought the letters, and intended to destroy them in fact.  However, her aunt unintentionally reminded her of the horrid Mrs. Dorset and fueled her anger.  I honestly don't know what I would do if i were in her situation.  It seems a fairly good idea to follow Mrs. Haffen's example and blackmail Mrs. Dorset with the letters, although there is not much personal gain, outside possible financial assets, that Lily could gain from this.  Unfortunately, the damage has been done. Mrs. Dorset's role in the engagement of Gryse and Evie is irreversible.  I don't understand how Mrs. Dorset holds such a high place in society either when it is almost common knowledge of her affections for Seldon.  Doesn't her husband know? Why doesn't he do something about it? Regardless, hopefully Lily doesn't do anything foolish with the letters.

The House of Mirth: Uh Ohh..

Edith Wharton has begun to add suspense and additional conflict into The House of Mirth.  The story is really heating up, as Lily's position as one of the most wealthy, beautiful, and desired women in society begins to falter.  Lily realizes that her plan to marry Percy Gryce is in grave danger of becoming  failure after Mrs. Dorset, the clear antagonist in the novel, informs Gryce of all Lily's downfalls, her smoking, gambling, and not going to church, out of jealousy after seeing Lily and Seldon, Mrs. Dorset's rumored ex-lover, on a walk together (wow, that was a mouthful).  Gryce leaves town, emphasizing the extreme situation.  Honestly, I am feeling more and more sympathy for Lily as this story develops.  She has plenty of downfalls, like her shallowness, extreme emphasis upon riches, and indecision; however, Lily seems like a normal person, just trying to succeed in life.  It seems she just can't catch a break. Finally, her luck seems to be looking up in the form of Mr. Trenor investing some of her money in the stock market so that Lily was able to pay back old debts. Lilly thinks, “The world was not so stupid and blundering after all: now and then a stroke of luck came to the unluckiest” (Wharton, 74).  It is almost comical that just as she believes her situation is improving, it becomes drastically worse.  Of course, I also admire this style of Edith Wharton because it makes the novel all the more interesting. Lily devises a plan to win Gryce back at the wedding of Jack Stepney and Gwen Van Osburgh, at which she is very confident that he will be no match for her charm and beauty.  However, she is disgruntled by Seldon's presence at the wedding (and his date, the poor and annoying Miss Gerty Ferish) as well as Mr. Trenor's new assumption that he and Lily are on far greater terms than Lily seems to believe.  And then, the icing on the cake, Mrs. Van Osburgh informs Lily that her daughter Evie and Gryce have just gotten engaged.  Now, Lily is truly in way over her head.  I can truly relate to that sensation when you realize the horrible situation you have gotten yourself into, and the further realization that the whole mess is your own fault only make matters worse.  For example, I, the Queen of Procrastination, have waited until almost the last possible second to do all of my blogs (thank goodness I at least have the book finished).  However, the fact that I have all these blogs due tonight is slightly problematic, and I feel Lily's stress as she realizes that her actions have landed her in this sticky situation, and hopefully she will be able to concoct some magnificent solution to get herself out.  My grade and Lily's pristinely polished  lifestyle waver on a very thin line. 

The House of Mirth: Poor Lily

I am beginning to feel very bad for Lily.  It seems that she is realizing how much use desires freedom and much she dislikes the stereotypes and pressures she feels from society.  While conversing with Seldon, she also realizes how much she likes him, although she's not quite sure why.  Both Seldon and Lily vaguely address the prospect of marrying one another and when Lily claims that he has nothing to offer her, Seldon admits that,  "If I had, it should be yours, you know," (Wharton, 57).  I feel quite bad for both of them because theres not a lot to be done about the situation unless Lily snapped out of her perfect world and decided to live a simpler life with Seldon.  This whole situation reminds me a lot of the Disney movie Aladdin in which the Princess Jasmine is being forced by her father, the Sultan, to marry a snobby rich prince simply because it is custom for the princess to marry a prince.  She admires Aladdin when she meets him because , although he is impersonating a prince as well, she can tell that he is different than the other men.  He is genuine.  However, when Aladdin's true identity is revealed, a dilemma arises  because his genuine character and love for the princess don't matter, like Seldon's affection for Lily and the fact that they get along so well do not matter much to her in her situation, because he is not rich and not a prince, and Seldon is not rich and not truly among the top of the socialites. Because Aladdin is a Disney movie, all is well in the end and the Princess and Aladdin override what had been custom for probably centuries with their overpowering love.  Sadly, Edith Wharton's the House of Mirth is not an animated fictional love story, so I am interested to see what direction Seldon and Lily will take. 

The House of Mirth: Gryce vs. Seldon

Lily's dilemma in deciding a suitable husband has become even more complicated with the additional problem of her conflicted feelings between the two men Percy Gryce and Lawrence Seldon (for the record, Percy Gryce shares a name with Percy Weasley so I really already don't like him; he's probably a snob). Anyways, I feel bad for Lily in her predicament, deciding between a secure future or marrying for affection.  She has previously states that Gryce bores her, but she loves to spend time with Seldon. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Lily starts to weigh her desire for wealth over her affections for Seldon. She resents this though and resents her gender and the female obligation to marry for wealth and social status. Then she shallowly consoles herself with the thought of all the money she'll share when she marries Percy. Lily is very confident that she can marry Percy, as made clear with Edith Wharton's words, "The certainty that she could marry Percy Gryce when she pleased had lifted a heavy load from her mind, . . . " (Wharton 39).  This reveals something of Lily's confidence because she is very sure that  she will secure Gryce as a husband even after witnessing Bertha Dorset flirting with not only him, but Seldon as well.  Clearly, Mrs. Dorset is not favored by many characters in The House of Mirth as she has supposedly had an affair with Seldon and constantly seeks the company of other men than her husband, putting their marriage in obvious danger.  It seems very odd that Lily and Mrs. Trenor speak somewhat calmly of this situation because even in contemporary times, this situation would be a huge scandal.  It just seems bizarre that this women can maintain any sort of social status and acceptance among the higher-class society when she is consistently suspected of affairs and blatantly flirts with other men desire her married status. I'm interested to see what other roles Bertha will play as well as which man Lily will choose in the end.

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.