The House Mirth

The House of Mirth

1 . Lily Bart is simultaneously a product and a victim of the society she was born into . She cannot choose between two possible ways of living : to hunt for wealth or long for love and understanding . She was taught that her goal of life was to find a wealthy man and become his wife . She can choose only among those who either have no social status (Rosedale , are married (Trenor , are boring and not interesting for her (Gryce , or have no money (Selden

2 . As the story progresses

we understand that money is not everything in this upper class of society the main character belongs to . One must behave a certain way , be friends with certain people and have a free admission to certain houses . Everybody watches each other and then discusses the details with the rest of elite . This is the society where everybody will struggle to death , step over others , use and abuse others but to get what one wants . We see how Lily 's friends treat her and this is not the way how friends treat each other . It is not allowed to meet with a man unless you have a chaperone . If a women is married , she has to be discreet , besides women must be more precise in their appearance than men

3 . One social group I know (my parents belong to it ) has ist unwritten rules , too . Among these are : not to stare people and not to point to people not to ask for favor to drive an expensive car not to be late . There are also rules about dressing up like : not to wear jeans if it 's not casual day to work and not to ask woman 's age

4 . While reading the book I felt really sorry for people who lived at that time when they could not be free but had to live the way the society has determined for them . I felt quite happy for the present and for myself that modern rules are not that terrible , although some of them are worse that in the past . I also felt sorry for the girl herself being all alone among people who just use and abuse you , knowing that your only fate is to try to please a wealthy man whom you do not necessarily like but whom you need in order to live a normal life

Bibliography

1 . Wharton , Edith . The House of Mirth . New American Library Reprint edition (February 1 , 2000...