Because details are so important to the characters in
the novel, the reader should be prepared to read the novel very
closely, keeping in mind that we as readers are meant to think about
each detail just as the characters themselves do. This is why Wharton
focuses on so many minutiae, most notably things such as Lily's
two major facial motions: smiles and blushes. These two motifs come
up regularly throughout the novel and take on different meanings,
always providing good clues to Lily's feelings.
The first chapter also gives us a sense of the type of
language, or diction, that is used throughout the novel. The narrative
also uses a number of epigrammatic short, witty sayings that are
meant to entertain the reader while providing social satire. For
example, Lily jokes that Selden has rescued her from a dull afternoon,
and he cleverly replies that it is his mission in life to do so.
In Chapter Four, Mrs. Trenor remarks paradoxically that "it's much
safer to be fond of dangerous people." (This is the same technique
used by Oscar Wilde to convey social commentary in his plays.)
In a larger context, The House of Mirth was
written after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the
Origin of Species, a book which introduced to the world
the concept of survival of the fittest, an idea that works well
with The House of Mirth's depictions of social
acceptance. Chapter One incorporates the language of Darwin's ideas
of natural selection, when Lily begins to think "how highly specialized
she was" and that ugly people must, in some mysterious way, have
been "sacrificed to produce her."
Chapter Three introduces us to the novel's gambling motif, which
will also become very important later in the novel. We are told
that Lily has lost almost $300 in
that night and is in dire financial straights as a result. Later
on, Lily's obsession with gambling will lead her to become involved
with the stock market, another form of gambling in which people
are ruined financially. It is important to notice that when Lily
starts to think of her lack of money, she immediately looks back
to her childhood. We begin to see that Lily inherits many of her
traits from her mother, who was concerned with keeping up the appearance
of wealth even when none existed; when Lily's father announced that
he is ruined, the very first words out of Mrs. Bart's mouth were
an order for Lily to shut the door so that the servants would not
begin to doubt their wealth. Mrs. Bart even tried to cover up their
relative indigence to Lily, telling her that her father was merely
tired and didn't know what he was saying.
Much like her mother, Lily is obsessed with maintaining
the appearance that she is wealthy even when she may not be. Her
absolute fears, then, are rejection from the society and "dinginess," which
her mother also dreaded. Lily's goal is to end up in a socially prestigious
and financially sound marriage. The novel is comprised of a series
of circumstances that lead to her rejection from society and eventual
death.
payment page
