In “The House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton, many themes appear
throughout the book. The one that I feel is the biggest theme is the economic
status of the women involved. There is a huge push on women by society at this time
that they needed to find a rich husband to marry within a certain age, or they
would face poverty.
This social pressure that Lily Bart faced is what I believe
drove her to kill herself. She was told by society and her friends that she
needed to be beautiful and find and marry a rich husband to ensure her spot
within the social elite. No matter who proposed to Lily, she always found a way
to make the marriage not work. She wanted to be independent, and didn’t want to
depend on a man to buy her nice things. Women at this time who married rich
men, were more or less around to show off how rich the man was. They were given
nice clothes and fine jewelry and strut around town hanging on the arm of their
husbands. Women were there for show and Lily didn’t want to be an object.
Not wanting to obey by societies rules, but wanting to fit
into the social elite class, I feel is what drove Lily into having no friends
and no husband in the end. I also feel that this is why she killed herself. She
didn’t have anyone left and when she saw the life she could have had with
Seldon if she would have accepted him in marriage in the beginning of the book,
she felt depressed and saw that she might never have that. Lily might not have
felt she had much to live for anymore. At the end, she says, “But the terrible
silence and emptiness seemed to symbolize her future-she felt as though the
house, the street, the world were all empty, and she alone left sentient in a
lifeless universe.” (Wharton 250)
It really isn’t right that Lily resorted to suicide at the
end, even if she felt like she didn’t have anything to live for anymore. It’s
sad the type of pressure society can put on women to conform and do things
perfectly and when women don’t hold up to those standards, they are shunned. Some
resort to suicide and this is one of those sad stories.
Do you think this particular quote helps us read the end as a suicide rather than an accidental drug overdose?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel that Lily wasn't necessarily attempting suicide. I think she was self medicating because of the hopelessness she was feeling. I think that she may not have cared if she died, she didn't think it would actually happen.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing all the readings and going back over all the blogs, I realized something I hadn't picked up on until now. Although the suicides of both Edna and Lily were tragic and sadly due to the pressures of society on women, not all of the female protagonists committed suicide. However different in some ways, they all faced horrible, offensive rules and laws set forth by an unjust government that centered on a sexist/racist or some sort of hierarchical society. But Katniss overcame these obstacles as well as Janie and Offred. Of course I still blame their deaths on societies pressures, but I wonder if Lily and Edna were really forced to end their lives-maybe they did have other choices?
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