The House of Mirth Essay

The House of Mirth was written by Edith Wharton, a successful Pulitzer prize winning author. Wharton grew up enjoying the comforts of the privileged upper class during the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. This unique background is what enables her to write the raw truth behind the social atmosphere among the upper class. This is evident through The House of Mirth because the novel illustrates the life of Lily Bart as she navigates through the elite social jungle. Wharton’s personal

House of Mirth is a novel that revolves on Lily Bart trying to find a husband in order to have a successful life and gives a glimpse to upper class society in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For the first passage, Selden ponders on Lily Bart. For the second passage, Lily talks to Gerty about her true intentions of marriage when Lily is distressed about her current state and the choices she has made. Through a close reading of the two passages, the diction, grammatical elements, and poetic devices

In Edith Wharton's, The House of Mirth, there is an unapologetic use of people as a a sign value in society. As Lily interacts with others, she is evaluated for her worth; Gus Trenor puts down real money in order to buy Lily's companionship and Rosedale desires her to be his wife, but it is primarily so that they can increase their social status. However, men are not the only ones to use people in this way. Lily evaluates the men on the market, looking to gain a husband to support her expensive lifestyle

While feminist ideologies in both The House of Mirth and The Awakening are quite controversial and maybe to some nonexistent, it is quite evident that there are these two women who want to fight against their societal norms and patriarchal society. Lily Bart from House of Mirth tries to manipulate societal norms in order to achieve success, and Edna Pontellier from The Awakening actively tries to become and independent woman. In the end, I think they both succeed in becoming independent women and

Novelist Edith Wharton wrote her defining work, 1905's the House of Mirth, on a subject she knew all too well: the style-over-substance realm of New York's upper-crust society during the Gilded Age. Having been raised in this "fashionable" society, Wharton knew both its intricacies and cruelties firsthand. The triumphant rise and tragic fall of protagonist Lily Bart demonstrate both the "sunshine and shadow" of the Gilded Age. The House of Mirth not only exposes the reality of how "the other half live

usually tragic but tell readers the fate of the characters. Realist novels have plausible events, with cause and effect in their stories — what the characters desire and the consequences they receive because of that. Realism in the novel, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, was clearly shown through Lily Bart's character with its ironic ending that had both her fall and rise as a character. She was known for her beauty in the novel; she made various mistakes in the process of entering the high social

The idea of keeping up appearances, or performing in society’s play, is a common theme in The House of Mirth. In a delicately structured social system, every move must be calculated and executed flawlessly. Lily Bart knows this and uses it to her advantage in numerous ways throughout the novel, including her participation in the tableaux vivants, outsiders’ perceptions of her, her relationship with Lawrence Selden, and catering her actions to different audiences. The purpose of a tableaux vivants

stepping pinnacles through the literature published at that time. Throughout the novels House of Mirth, A Mercy and the play Death of a Salesman, the thematic realms of Freedom and Confinement, Pride, Respect and Reputation are often explored and we can identify that the lives of these very different set of New Yorkers experience great hardships. First, we will explore the theme of Pride within the novel House of Mirth. Pride is not a groundbreaking theme but is very much evident in numerous characters

In the novel House Of Mirth by Edith Wharton one can really see that the novel thus far really revolves around the concept of gossip. Every chapter thus far, we find out a secret that a character has kept either about themselves or about another character. The secrets are kept so that they can be used at a later time to manipulate those around them or to bring a scandalous gossip. One of the main characters who are surrounded by gossip is Lily; she is a 29-year-old woman who has yet to marry. The

Krista Young 05/11/2015 Thought and Society Chestnutt/Wharton Essay Assignment The Marrow of Tradition and House of Mirth Class, gender, and race are just a few of the classifications that have directly impacted one’s financial, legal, and personal freedoms throughout history. There are several examples in Charles Waddell Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition and Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth that will shed light to the many situations in which the characters find themselves that display the sort