Response to Setting in Edith Wharton's the House of Mirth Term Paper

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House of Mirth is set in New York high society in the 1920s, where the affluent have little more to do than to criticize and gossip about one another. Their conversations with each other are filled with snappy comments and sugarcoated insults. Despite their wealth, their setting, an environment filled with insecurities and constant arguments, taints the characters.

The main character, Lily Bart breaks through the setting with her independent spirit, ability to speak her own mind and dismissal of the thought of simply marrying for security. Her personality is not well accepted by society and she is a target for their scorn and derision. In short, her refusal to conform to her environment makes her the enemy of society.

The setting is a society where appearances mean everything. Therefore, once Lily loses her status as an attractive asset in society, her world collapses. The social setting of the novel is the leisure class, more specifically the leisure class women, and none of the women of this class earns her living by productive work. Instead they live their lives as proud displayers of their husband's wealth and work toward building and sustaining the men's reputation as superior members of society.

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In the beginning of the novel, an admirer stares at Lily and it is obvious that her beauty is all that matters to him, as seen in this excerpt from the novel:

He had a confused sense that she must have cost a great deal to make, that a great many dull and ugly people must, in some mysterious way, have been sacrificed to produce her. He was aware that the qualities distinguishing her from the herd of her sex were chiefly external: as though a fine glaze of beauty and fastidiousness had been applied to vulgar clay. Yet the analogy left him unsatisfied, for a coarse texture will not take a high finish; and was it not possible that the material was fine, but that circumstance had fashioned it into a futile shape?"

This passage shows the importance of Lily's beauty and how men cannot see past it. It sets the stage for a society that is all about looks. Throughout the novel, consumption….....

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"Response To Setting In Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth" (2002, October 16) Retrieved May 21, 2025, from
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"Response To Setting In Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth", 16 October 2002, Accessed.21 May. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/response-setting-edith-wharton-house-mirth-136775
   

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