The House of Mirth (Blog 1)

By: Edith Wharton

As I began reading The House of Mirth, I quickly determined one of the themes to be Miss Lily Bart's search for a rich husband.  At the very beginning of the novel, I viewed Miss Lily Bart as a materialistic woman because she was so caught up in appearances and finding a rich man.  However, I later altered this viewpoint in chapter 3.  In this chapter, Wharton describes Lily's life growing up in a wealthy family.  I found that Lily was strongly influenced by the lifestyle she grew up with, so I felt that it wasn't her fault that she was used to the pleasures of being rich.  After Mr. Bart's death when his daughter was only 19, Mrs. Hudson Bart, Lily's mother, frequently emphasized her hatred and fear of a "dingy life."  Since Mrs. Bart was so used to living a fancier life, she struggled immensely with the direction her life was heading after the death of her husband.  She strongly encouraged Lily to find a rich man to marry.  I was shocked to learn how Lily felt about this.  "She would not indeed have cared to marry a man who was merely rich: she was secretly ashamed of her mother's crude passion for money" (Wharton, 27).  Because Lily never vocalized anything like this to her mother, I assumed she desired to marry rich in order to live the same kind of life as before.  Even after her mother's death, Lily is pressured by riches.  She moves in with her mother's widowed sister Mrs. Peniston; Lily's aunt tries to spoil her niece with nice gifts.  Lily appreciates her aunt for this, but she does not think the presents are necessary.  Because Lily seems to be so against finding a wealthy husband, I am surprised that she seems to only be looking for this in a man after 10 years of living with her aunt.  I think that her initial viewpoint of the situation being wrong was changed because of her mother and aunt.  I am interested to see how this novel unfolds because I am curious to see if Lily will find a rich man to marry.