Within
chapters 3 and 4 of Book II of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, a cascade of unfortunate and completely
unexpected events buries Lily under the weight of a number of social and
financial troubles, essentially destroying her entire life as she knows it. However,
as Lily undergoes the hardest trials of her life thus far, I have begun to gain
a different perception of Lily and really begun to analyze her character.
Recently, while reading the novel, I had honestly lost some respect for Lily,
because she seemed so hopelessly selfish and spoiled that I found it hard to
sympathize with her troubles. However, after reading of Lily’s reactions to
many of the unfair misfortunes which befell her within these two chapters, I
realized that she is not a static character doomed to a life of
self-absorption; rather, she is a constantly-changing round character who has
transformed a great deal throughout the course of the book. In fact, I hardly
find it fair to classify Lily as very spoiled or selfish at all anymore. When
the controversy surrounding Mr. and Mrs. Dorset’s potential divorce arose, Lily
placed all of her own worries aside and genuinely wished nothing more than to
help her friends through their time of need, and she even granted her
unwavering loyalty and support to Bertha, who had not always been so friendly
to Lily in the past. Even when Bertha cruelly disregarded this extension of
friendship and instead fabricated lies about Lily in order to regain power within
her own marriage, Lily handled herself with admirable elegance. Lily had meant
nothing more than to aid a friend in a time of need, and instead, that same friend
manipulated her for her own personal gain, permanently ostracizing Lily from
all of her friends and crushing the social status and reputation which she had
worked all of her life to obtain. To make matters worse, after the unexpected
death of Mrs. Peniston, Lily was informed that she had been disinherited and
was left with no money and no place to stay. However, despite all of these
horrible tragedies in Lily’s life which burdened her through no fault of her
own, she bore herself with grace, composure, and maturity at all times: she did
lash out nor attack any of the culprits in her downfall. The fact that Lily met
such harsh tribulations with quiet acceptance without feeling the need for
revenge proves that she has gained a great deal of maturity that I had never
seen in her before.
The full extent of Miss Bart’s transformation
is manifested in her conversation with Gerty about how all of these tragedies
began when Lily explains, “Why, the beginning was in my cradle, I suppose—in
the way I was brought up, and the things I was taught to care for. Or no—I
won’t blame anybody for my faults: I’ll say it was in my blood…” (Wharton,
183). The entire time that I have been reading The House of Mirth, I have marveled at how Lily has never seemed to
have taken any responsibility for her actions and has always seemed to expect
that others will resolve her problems for her; however, with this quote, Lily
has made it evident that she accepts full responsibility for all of her
imprudent choices and flaws which may have led her to the dark existence that
she was currently living. Also, this quote reminded me to not be so critical of
Lily, for even though she can carry an air of superiority and act very
selfishly at times, she truly was raised to act no differently. Self-centeredness
has been the mindset Lily was taught to adopt since birth and will have to work
with disciplined fervor to overcome. By no means am I implying that Lily is
perfect; even in chapter 4 she shows her incredible greed upon hearing the news
of Mrs. Peniston’s death and thinking nothing more of the great fortune she
will inherit. Despite this, after reading chapters 3 and 4, I have no formed a
different view of Lily in my analysis of her character and have come to find
that she is far more complex than I originally imagined. As the book
progresses, I hope that she will utilize her newly found humility to make wise
choices that will ensure her happiness for the rest of her life.
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