Lily Wharton Society

The main character, Lily Bart, is an unmarried 29 years old woman who desires to be a social success. Member of the American upper class, but not wealthy enough, she is educated to marry a wealthy man, thereby ensuring her financial stability and a place in the higher levels of New York society. Unfortunately her desire to marry someone wealthy clashes with her feelings for Lawrence Selden, a man of modest means whom she truly loves. Her greed causes her to pass up several good marriage opportunities in hopes that she can do better. The novel follows a two-year period in Lily’s life as she moves from party to party, struggling to stay within the favor of the wealthy while mounting larger and larger debts. Her precarious financial situation

There is no place of hazard in the 19th-century New York society and most of the action happens not by coincidence but by planning: while Lily plans all of her trips with the intent of getting something out of someone, most other characters plan trips to the Bellomont knowing that they will spend their time gambling and having fun. In the literary vision of Edith Wharton visits are like basic cells of the novel: visiting others is one of the fundamental actions of American society of 19th-century because this is the place where social analyses are made and gossip took place. And this analyzes and discussions are ways that people make connections and different alliances are formed. Not least, the visits are not just a kind of societal battle-ground, but also societal courts where people from upper-class society are

Throughout the novel the meaning of money to Lily seldom changes. As can be observed her lust for money grows in intensity as she becomes poorer. In her novel Edith Wharton emphasize that money are closely related to ideas like freedom and slavery or dependence and independence: every time Lily comes across money, she feels free. Whenever she falls into debt, she feels enslaved. Her emotional life depends on her material matters. When she feels free Lily thinks entirely on how much she can afford to spend on dresses and when she is in debt she is looking to find a more honorable way to cover her debt so as not to violate any social rule, while respecting her own moral principles. The tragedy is that money remains the basis for her emotions and she will be caught between her own ethical ideas and the habits and moral vision of the upper-class