House of Mirth
In the novel The House of Mirth, the protagonist, Lily Bart is trapped in a world filled with materialism, shallowness and hatred. In the high society of New York, the only way to be accepted is to have money, and lots of it. In Lily's case, she needs money in order to buy the life in which she was raised. However, the means to attain that money are limited. Unfortunately, Lily has not been trained to obtain that money in many ways. She believes that only by marrying a rich man will she be able to live the life of luxury that she is so accustomed to. In this day and age, women were seen as inferior to men. Therefore, women's aspirations, dreams, and goals were not even considered if they had anything other to do than getting married, raising a family, or shopping. Money is a key theme in this novel, and it plays an important role in Lily's life. In fact, it rules her life in many ways. In the past, present and even future of Lily's life, the desire to obtain money has always been a major part of her life. Beginning with Mrs. Bart's training early on in Lily's life, to the "what could have been" future if she did not kill herself. In this essay, we will see how Lily Bart, the protagonist is a slave to money, and how she
she had been brought up in the faith that whatever it cost, one must have a good cook and be what Mrs. Bart called 'decently dressed'" (Wharton, 30). This is a good example of how Mrs. Bart would teach Lily that looking and dressing as if you were wealthy and important, and you had to do it at any price. This illustrates that Lily has been trained and grown accustomed to a life of fancy dresses and personal maids. It doesn't matter who you really are, just as long as you appear to be someone who is wealthy. Lily does become ashamed of her mother's obsession with money. However, although that may be true, in a way, Lily has become her mother because she too has an obsession with money and allows it to control the choices she makes in her life. The need to marry a rich man in order to be in the upper class society takes over her life. Early on, Lily adopted the idea that money is the most important factor in life, and the struggle between money and love she later faces in! Ah, there's a difference-a girl must a man may if he chooses...Your coat's a little shabby-but who cares? It doesn't keep people from asking you to dine. If I were shabby no one would have me: a woman is asked out as much for her clothes as for herself. The clothes are the background, the frame, if you like; they don't make success, but they are a part of it. Who wants a dingy woman? We are expected to be pretty and well-dressed till we drop-and if we can't keep it alone, we have to go into partnership. (10) One of the main themes in this novel is about money. Lily Bart was a slave to it, but she taught us that if you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Lily thought she was winning at this societal game of money and power, when what was really happening was she was becoming more and more a slave to it. When pursuing money, you have to be very careful, because there is always someone smarter than you who can take better advantage of a situation. Lily was a naive and indecisive girl who failed to take action on her feelings as well as her beliefs. She ignored her true feelings for Selden, and failed to follow through with any situation that would have allowed her to be rich. Perhaps if she wasn't so weak, she could have made a successful life for herself. But she let her pursuit of money lead her to a lonely and powerless end in her life. Perhaps Selden said it best, "My idea of success is personal freedom. Freedom...from money, from poverty, from ease and anxiety,! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Although Lily was a slave to money, she was not the only one in the novel fixated on it. Almost all of the characters were obsessed with money in one way or another. For example, Rosedale used his new money to impress people and move up in society. Gus Trenor used his money to trick Lily into thinking he was investing hers for her, when what he was really doing was giving Lily his money. Most of the characters flaunted their money. For example, the women played cards to win money, and the more you spent the better. The problem is, they were all shallow and materialistic and used their money to their advantage. Lily was a victim of this. She is a product of her environment. She wanted so badly to be a part of it all, that she forgot t
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Approximate Word count = 2230
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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