The House of Mirth, Book II, Chapters V and VI

                As I began to read a new chapter of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, I realized that Lily was also starting a new chapter in her life. Lily was forced to accept that her friends had completely ostracized her, and she no longer had ample money to spend as she pleased; therefore, after a friendly encounter with Mrs. Fisher on the street, Lily resolved to do everything in her power to climb her way back up the social ladder by attending a party at the Gormers’ house. Although Lily was at first repulsed by the loud and rowdy crowd which, in an earlier life, she never would have dared to embrace, she soon began to see that their existence was actually not so different from her own. I believe Lily slowly begins to change her view of the world when she observes at the Gormers’ residence, “There was more of each thing: more noise, more colour, more champagne, more familiarity—but also greater good-nature, less rivalry, and a fresher capacity for enjoyment” (Wharton, 189). As I read this, I found this reflection to be evidence that Lily was changing even more dramatically than I mentioned in my previous blog, and I have begun to think that Lily may soon realize that she has no desire to rejoin the friends that so cruelly brushed her aside. However, as Lily embraces the fact that she will soon have to marry in order to financially support herself, she rejects Mr. Dorset’s pleas for companionship as gracefully as possible and begins to pursue the idea of marrying Simon Rosedale. The fact that she would be willing to marry someone whom she doesn’t even like just for the purpose of remaining a prominent figure in high society is indicative of the true desires of her heart. Considering all these facts, Miss Lily Bart continues to prove to me time and time again that she is a very complex character. While she gradually flirts with the possibility of leaving high society forever by befriending a different set of people, she is also pulling herself closer and closer to a permanent position in high society by pursuing Rosedale. I feel that, soon enough, Lily is going to have to make the choice that her entire life has led her to thus far: will she choose to pursue happiness and love, or will she settle for status and wealth?

               As Lily underwent a series of dramatic changes in her life within chapters 5 and 6, I noticed that Wharton used a great variety of literary techniques from our literary terms packet to describe many emotions and events in greater detail. To begin with, Wharton has utilized a number of similes and metaphors in these two chapters, one of the most effective similes being, “The future stretched before her dull and bare as the deserted length of Fifth Avenue, and opportunities showed as meagerly as the few cabs…” (Wharton, 187), and the most powerful metaphor being, “…that intimacy was a mere ripple on the surface of a rushing social current” (Wharton, 194). I was particularly stuck by a very vivid analogy in Wharton’s writing, in which Lily observes, “She felt herself of no more account among them than an expensive toy in the hands of a spoiled child” (Wharton, 195). This analogy was particularly effective in context of the story because it gives the reader a vivid image of the manner in which spoiled individuals in high society manipulate one another as though they were nothing more than objects. Additionally, Wharton included an allusion to Coney Island so that the reader could create a mental image of the rambunctious milieu that the Gormer set attracted. Lastly, Wharton brilliantly wove an extended metaphor into chapter 5 as she explains the social gathering at the Gormer house. In a long passage, she describes the gathering to be like an express train in which the guests are the passengers, Mrs. Gormer is the conductor, and Mrs. Fisher is the porter. Wharton’s purpose in using these techniques was clearly to make vivid and powerful connections and comparisons for the sake of the reader, and I think that she was very effective in accomplishing this goal. I noticed every single one of these techniques as I was reading because the writing literally jumped out at me, and it truly helped me in my understanding of the novel.

*The picture shown above is of a group of people at Coney Island. Wharton compares the Gormer set to a "a kind ofsocial Coney Island" to explain that they were a wild and "more colorful" group that Lily's normal set.