"The House Of Mirth" by Edith Wharton

From the Paper:

"This study will examine how society affected the character of Lily in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Specifically, the study will explore how the society in which she lived determined her life, her fate, and her death.


Essentially, Lily is a woman who lives in a materialistic and class-conscious society, and she has no talent or desire to live outside of that materialistic structure. She has been raised to live the soft life of elites, and she spends her energies trying to figure out how to do so. At the same time, it is clear that the author values Lily highly, not so much for what she does but for what she is unable to do because of the materialistic obsessions of the society in which she is entrapped. As we read in the Introduction to the novel, "a frivolous society can acquire significance through what its frivolity destroys"..."

More papers on "The House Of Mirth" by Edith Wharton:

• Analytical Essay # 28149 : "The House of Mirth"
• Analytical Essay # 16223 : "Wharton's "The House of Mirth"
• Analytical Essay # 23750 : "The House of Mirth"

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