House Of Mirth Reflection

I thought this was an interesting read because it gave insight to what it might have been like in the twentieth century. The House of Mirth was written by Edith Wharton, who was very big into naturalism. The story revolves around the female lead character, Lily Bart, and her struggle to find what she deems as happiness. Through Lily’s story we see what it was like to be a woman and the importance of marriage and social status in the time period. In our class discussion we brought up how the early twentieth century was around the time the transition from the true woman to the new woman was happening. True women were the ones that valued marriage, spending most of their days at home taking care of the house and worrying about the kids. They didn’t really delve into politics or men’s affairs. The new women were starting to get jobs besides taking care of children, seen in public more, trying to have a voice politically, and it was common for them to not be married. I think Lily is ahead of her time and not comfortable with the fact that she wants to be a new woman. This causes

Nettie is a woman from the lower level of society and is married. She takes Lily in one day and when Lily is with her family she sees a happy marriage and the good life that Nettie has achieved. “The poor little working-girl who had found strength to gather up the fragments of her life, and build herself a shelter with them, seemed to Lily to have reached the central truth of existence.. The poor little working-girl who had found strength to gather up the fragments of her life, and build herself a shelter with them, seemed to Lily to have reached the central truth of existence” (book two, chapter thirteen). When comparing the marriages in the circle Lily wants to belong to and Nettie’s marriage, I think we see Wharton trying to tell the reader that you don’t need a lot of money or fancy things to build a happy life with