"The House of Mirth"

Analytical Essay # 28149

English
English > Analysis
Literature > English

Examines the identity of the heroine, Lily Bart, in Edith Wharton's novel.

2,014 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2003

Paper Summary:

This essay deals with the character Lily Bart in "The House of Mirth" by novelist Edith Wharton. One critic has argued that Lily Bart "has an unstable and insecure sense of her own identity and a compulsive need to find some 'mirror' in which an acceptable 'self' will be reassuringly reflected back." This essay analyzes to what measure this statement is true.

From the Paper:

"A third factor to influence Lily's self is the fact that she is or becomes what others perceive or want her to be. She adapts to people, she does whatever is requested of her. When her friend Judy wants Lily to help with 'tiresome things' Lily does not give her true feelings but goes downstairs and helps, when Lily meets Percy she adjusts her personality to him, when Lily is accused by Bertha of having an affair with her husband she does not fight off the allegations. It is at times as if Lily has no real opinion on anything, as if she does not really want to fight for herself. Lily speaks a lot but she never really says what she means."