Blog #15

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Analysis over Book 2 chapters 14-15


And so it ends... In the final chapters of The House of Mirth, I experienced the depression and unfulfillment Wharton has built up throughout the whole novel. I can't exactly say I didn't foresee the novel's dreary ending, but I kept my hopes high for a possible turn of events!(that definitely didn't happen...) From the moment the chloral was introduced, I knew things were going to take a turn for the worse. Lily is caught thinking,"The thought of the chloral was the only spot of light in the dark prospect."(Wharton, 253). Lily has obviously formed a severe dependency on the drug, she recently had even raised the dosage to its highest limit in order to get an effect. Also, the recurrence of a possible overdose appeared multiple times throughout the last chapters, definitely creating some serious foreshadowing. To develop even more heartthrob, just the night before Lily died, she unexpectedly took a visit to Selden's apartment. During her visit, she abruptly confessed all her feeling to him about their relationship, her life and how Selden was right when he said "that such a life could never satisfy me."(Wharton,250). Selden has been right about Lily along. If she just would have taken his advice or help one time, instead of being so stubborn, their relationship, and lives for that matter, may be drastically different (maybe not dead!). When Lily leaves his apartment, there is an air of promise in the relationship inspite of the many upsetting words they shared. When Selden reaches Lily's boardinghouse the next morning, only to find she is dead, it really hit me hard because there was so much potential for their future. Way to go Wharton for destroying my hopes and dreams. On a more upbeat note, I believe through Lily's death, she will finally able to be free from her constant battle with society. She was never able to live the life she was "destined" to be apart of and that was her biggest character flaw. She had the chances to runaway with Selden and live free from the pressures of money, but of course she would not have it. She loved luxury far too much to let silly love get in the way. Only now, disconnected from the world, will Lily be able to achieve the happiness she always wanted. At the end of the novel, before Lily falls asleep and as Selden is walking to Lily's boarding house, they both mention a perfectly fitting word they want to say to each. My first and only assumption is "mirth", not only because it's obviously the name of the novel, but for the word meaning. Mirth is something along the lines of joy, amusement, and cheer, something both Lily and Selden wanted out of lives and experienced with each other. They may never get to live out their happiness together, but Selden makes a beautiful point when he thinks,"he saw now that, for both, it had been saved whole out of the ruin of their lives."(Wharton,268). Their love may not have been fulfilled, but it did in fact save them.