The House of Mirth (Blog 4)

By: Edith Wharton

This is a picture of Lily and Selden from "The House of Mirth" movie.

In my last blog, I expressed a liking for Percy Gryce; however, I changed my opinion in chapter 6.  At this point in the novel, I really started to like Lawrence Selden a lot more than I did before.  In the very beginning, I pictured Selden to be just a reliable friend that Lily could easily confide in.  They didn't seem to be anything more than friends, so I didn't even consider Lily marrying him.  During chapter 6, however, Lily and Selden share a nice walk with honest conversation.  As they continue to talk, Lily starts thinking of Selden as a potential husband.  Thankfully, she admires Selden for who he is, even though he is not nearly as wealthy as her other friends.  She truly likes Selden's personality, and she can picture a happy future with him.  "She had several times been in love with fortunes or careers, but only once with a man" (Wharton, 51).  I particularly liked this quote because it shows that Lily is allowing herself to follow her true desires, and she is beginning to discover her love for Selden.  Finding a man with money could never fully satisfy Lily because it is necessary to actually like the man's character.  Before, she was set out on a search to find a rich man.  She didn't seem to put any restrictions on him, as long as he was well off.  With Selden, Lily finds herself truly attracted to his character.  She finds him to be extremely charming and handsome, and she likes that he is not afraid to disagree with her.  I am glad that Lily wants to marry him, even though he doesn't have the amount of money she would prefer to have.  I think that this gives Lily more hope to truly find happiness in her future with a successful marriage.  I hope that she becomes even better friends with Selden because I think marrying him would be beneficial to Lily in the long run.