The House of Mirth

“She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.”

Despite Selden’s cynical assessment of Lily’s maneuverings to marry a wealthy man, he also sympathetically views her as a victim of a society that values materialism over love. Her expensive jewelry, designed to attract a rich husband who can pay for these luxuries, is ironically seen as manacles that hold Lily prisoner to Selden, who operates outside the high society Lily aspires to.

“The provocation in her eyes increased his amusement—he had not supposed she would waste her powder on such small game; but perhaps she was only keeping her hand in; or perhaps a girl of her type had no conversation but of the personal kind.”

Selden knows that Lily is not truly interested in pursuing him for marriage, since he lacks the requisite wealth. However, he notices that she directs her flirtatious charm at him, and he wonders why. Comparing Lily to a hunter and himself to insignificant “small game,” Selden wonders why she would “waste her powder” or personal charm on him, when she is shooting for a larger animal (a rich man). His intuitive understanding of Lily’s motives demonstrate his deep understanding of her, which no other character in the novel has. Selden’s likening to Lily’s overtures as a hunting game emphasizes her need and desperation for a wealthy husband.

“She had been long enough in bondage to other people’s pleasure to be considerate of those who depended on hers, and in her bitter moods it sometimes struck her that she and her maid were in the same position, except that the latter received her wages more regularly.”

As a single woman born into the upper class, but lacking wealth, Lily must rely on the hospitality and gifts of her hostesses, while she adapts to their tastes, obliged to do any little tasks they request. She feels enslaved without the independence conferred by riches. Even her maid can openly receive wages on a regular basis, but Lily must maintain the appearance of abundance, without any gainful employment. This irony is further emphasized as Lily feels more commonality between herself and a servant as she understands her station.

“They belonged to the vast group of human automata who go through life without neglecting to perform a single one of the gestures executed by the surrounding puppets.”

The metaphor of automata (robots) and puppets emphasize the absolute conformity required in this high society as the Wetheralls are described as attending church without any personal convictions. The activities they do are empty gestures because they are simply imitating the behavior of others—a key action that benefits them, but when Lily attempts the same route, she is ostracized by the very group she attempts to align with.

“Under the glitter of their opportunities she saw the poverty of their achievement.”

After the arrival of Selden, with his critical assessment of the materialism of high society, Lily views the guests at Bellomont with a new perspective. She realizes that beneath their wealthy, glamorous appearance, they have not accomplished anything with their lives. Selden’s commentary assists Lily’s character growth as she begins to view the inner machinations of high society in a new light, giving her the conviction to step outside its bounds.

“It’s a part of your cleverness to be able to produce premeditated effects extemporaneously.”

Having observed Lily for years, Selden recognizes that she carefully plans her social conquests. He knows that Lily skillfully utilizes even accidental occurrences to produce effects that further her premeditated goals. He characterizes Lily as a type of artist who creates with the material around her, while others only view Lily as a poor hanger-on who is at the disposal of their whims. Selden sees Lily for who she truly is, demonstrating her true value regardless of her place in high society.

“To keep a kind of republic of the spirit—that’s what I call success.”

When Lily asks Selden about his idea of success, he replies “personal freedom.” His metaphor of a republic of the spirit refers to an independent country free from enslavement to the material world. Selden tells Lily that this republic is as difficult for a rich person to get into as the kingdom of heaven. Selden’s declaration reveals his understanding of how to operate within the margins of high society while affirming that he is never motivated to truly join the social group like Lily is.

“Oh, I’m not asking for payment in kind. But there’s such a thing as fair play—and interest on one’s money—and hang me if I’ve had as much as a look from you—.”

In this New York society based on wealth, Gus Trenor uses the language of finance in his ungentlemanly approach to Lily. Viewing social interaction through his Wall Street lens, Gus believes he has purchased attentiveness from Lily since he gave her money. For him, interest on his money is not to be paid in dollars and cents but in intimacy with the beautiful Lily. In this moment, which depicts Lily as a material commodity, Gus abandons social norms and treats her the way he—and other men—truly view her.

“She seemed a stranger to herself, or rather there were two selves in her, the one she had always known, and a new abhorrent being to which it found itself chained.”

Gus Trenor’s brutal behavior to Lily, as well as his insulting assumptions that she frequented other men’s houses and exchanged physical intimacy for loans, traumatizes her. Her moral shame at not examining fully how Gus had made money for her makes her feel dishonorable, and her inability to anticipate his actions leaves her feeling inadequate. This side of herself she had not fully faced; it is like a new, abhorrent being to which she is chained.

“He knew that Perseus’s task is not done when he has loosed Andromeda’s chains, for her limbs are numb with bondage, and she cannot rise and walk, but clings to him with dragging arms as he beats back to land with his burden.”

In this reference to Greek mythology, Selden imagines himself as the heroic Perseus who saves Lily, the lovely Andromeda, being sacrificed for her beauty chained to a rock. Inspired by the eternal beauty of Lily at the Brys’ tableaux vivants, Selden wants to save her from the vulgar, corrupt society that cheapens her loveliness as a commodity. Selden understands that if he were to ever “rescue” Lily from the high society she hopes to join, it would be a lifelong affair, as Lily was raised to aspire to wealth and a rich husband.

“He seemed to see her poised on the brink of a chasm, with one graceful foot advanced to assert her unconsciousness that the ground was failing her.”

Selden’s perception of Lily’s dangerously uncertain position with the Dorsets is expressed by this metaphor of Lily poised on the brink of a chasm, advancing unaware that the ground is giving way beneath her. His realization of Lily’s desperate situation foreshadows Bertha Dorset’s break with her when Lily’s social reputation is severely damaged. The imagery of the chasm represents the specter of poverty that looms over Lily as she curries favor with the Dorsets in an attempt to stay financially afloat.

“‘Miss Bart is not going back to the yacht,’ she said in a voice of singular distinctness.”

Bertha Dorset publicly rejects Lily by refusing to let her come back aboard the yacht. This moment is a key turning point in the novel because Lily’s travel with the Dorsets gave her social sanction when she was being scandalized because of her dealings with Gus Trenor. This public rejection permits the other society men and women to follow Bertha’s lead in ostracizing Lily and ensures a devastating level of shame. It is the proverbial nail in the coffin of Lily’s attempts to gain societal acceptance.

“In this case, it’s a great deal easier to believe Bertha Dorset’s story than mine, because she has a big house and an opera box, and it’s convenient to be on good terms with her.”

The economics of social interaction in New York high society are critiqued by emphasizing how wealth determines people’s behavior. Even when wealthy Bertha Dorset tells a lie and engages in adulterous affairs, society people accept her version of events over the poorer Lily’s truthful account. Lily’s financial ruin is viewed as distrustful, whereas Bertha’s wealth automatically secures others’ belief in her version of events.

“But other memories importuned her also; the recollection of similar situations, as skilfully led up to, but through some malice of fortune, or her own unsteadiness of purpose, always failing of the intended result.”

Lily was educated by her mother to marry for money rather than love, but she has repeatedly failed to do so. The tension between her mother’s ideals and her father’s softer way of life takes hold as Lily strives to gain social favor. While she attempts to find a rich husband and has been presented with multiple opportunities for marriage to wealthy suitors, she sabotages these chances. Her resistance reflects her father’s romanticism and demonstrates how the conflicting ideals of her childhood have manifested in her adulthood.

“He met this with a steady gaze of his small stock-taking eyes, which made her feel herself no more than some superfine human merchandise.”

Through this description of the way that Rosedale’s gaze makes Lily feel, the novel’s theme of the commodification of people in a social class based on wealth is reemphasized. Even though Rosedale presents no threat to Lily, she feels minimized by him as her value to his attempts to gain high-society favor wanes. Though Rosedale maintains social precedent, unlike Gus, he still objectifies Lily as merchandise to improve, or in this case worsen, his cause. Despite Lily’s attempts to lower herself in her eyes to attempt marriage with Rosedale, he now views her as damaged goods due the rumors about her, leaving her with another closed opportunity for marriage.

“Put by Rosedale in terms of business-like give-and-take, this understanding took on the harmless air of a mutual accommodation, like a transfer of property or a revision of boundary lines.”

Rosedale suggests that Lily blackmail Bertha Dorset with her private letters to Selden. Lily purchased the letters to protect Selden. Rosedale’s matter-of-fact labeling of blackmail as an ordinary business transaction circumvents the ethics of the matter. Lily’s fascination with Rosedale’s easy disregard for ethics illustrates her inexperience in the male-dominated world of commerce and negotiation. Lily retains her sense of feminine morality as she rejects manipulating others’ lives to ensure her own success.

“‘Oh, Gerty, I wasn’t meant to be good,’ she sighed out incoherently.”

Lily classifies Gerty as someone who likes being good; according to Lily, good means being contented with living on limited means. Gerty lives to help others and expects nothing more from life. Lily classifies herself as “bad,” meaning that she wants money to live in luxury and ease—aligning the world to which she aspires with corrupted morality. Despite this self-perception, Lily’s character development throughout the novel reveals the complex layers that motivate her attempts at self-preservation.

“We eat their dinners, and drink their wine, and smoke their cigarettes, and use their carriages and their opera-boxes and their private cars—yes, but there’s a tax to pay on every one of those luxuries.”

Lily describes what it is like to live with the rich as a poorer guest of her wealthy hosts’ hospitality, ironically highlighting it as a transaction, which she detests when presented by the male characters in the novel. Although she enjoys access to their luxuries, she must pay for that privilege by tipping servants, playing cards for money, and dressing meticulously. Financial language conveys the monetary ethos underlying these social interactions, demonstrating Lily’s understanding that she cannot exist in the high society without paying for it.

“Once again, Lily had withdrawn from an ambiguous situation in time to save her self-respect, but too late for public vindication.”

Lily leaves the employ of the socially questionable Mrs. Hatch too late to avoid gossip that she conspired to arrange a marriage between the divorcée and wealthy, young Freddy Van Osburgh. This behavior is a pattern: Lily avoids certain problems until they become overwhelming—and society makes unjust assumptions about her. Her avoidance of confrontation illustrates the very conflict of Lily’s station: In her aspirations to be a high-society woman, Lily ignores unsavory situations. Her choice to ignore the developments around her directly affect her and leave her as a victim of her own inaction.

“Inherited tendencies had combined with early training to make her the highly specialized product she was: an organism as helpless out of its narrow range as the sea-anemone torn from the rock.”

Lily’s characterization is illustrated through the analogy of a sea anemone that is helpless outside its natural environment. The image is emphasized by the sea anemone’s delicate state of dependence on its surroundings and sudden peril when removed. The concept of determinism, the influence of genetic and environmental factors, is utilized to explain part of Lily’s failure to survive.

“But I may not see you again for a long time, and I wanted to tell you that I have never forgotten the things you said to me at Bellomont, and that sometimes—sometimes when I seemed farthest from remembering them—they have helped me, and kept me from mistakes; kept me from really becoming what many people have thought me.”

Lily reveals Selden’s impact on her life in that she held on to his comments, including his statement that her ambition to marry for money was unworthy of her. Lily reveals herself to have moral agency with the capacity to choose to avoid certain mistakes as her character has developed across the novel.

“I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else.”

In Lily’s description of her place in the world, the novel again refers to a deterministic view that is typical of literary naturalism. Lily feels that she only fits in one societal role, determined by impersonal forces. Otherwise, Lily is useless and thrown out in the rubbish heap. This determinism is depicted in mechanistic terms. Lily is a specialized product, shaped by genetic and environmental factors; therefore, she is unable to earn a living in the way women in the working class do. Her generalized negative description of herself adds to the tone of hopelessness that permeates the narrative after her ostracization from the high-society groups.

“That was the feeling which possessed her now—the feeling of being something rootless and ephemeral, mere spin-drift of the whirling surface of existence, without anything to which the poor little tentacles of self could cling before the awful flood submerged them.”

The metaphor of tentacles is used again to imagine Lily as a sea anemone torn away in the flood of existence, unable to survive. Lily realizes that her upbringing did not give her the roots to provide strength. Her parents were blown about on the metaphorical wind of fashion, with no traditions or lasting community ties to help ground Lily. Lily contrasts her rootlessness with Nettie Struther’s construction of a nest built with a man’s faith and a woman’s courage, highlighting her personal growth as she views the less fortunate woman as having a life with more meaning.