Blog #3

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Analysis over chapter 4


Immediately beginning chapter four of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, I felt a great pang of annoyance towards Mrs.Trenor. Not only was reading all her babbling rather boring, it was also extremely confusing and complex. I was clueless as to whom she was talking about and frankly, what in the world was going on. The gossip continues for sometime and although there were points when I somewhat understood, for the most part it was a big blur. Eventually, I picked up on how Mrs.Trenor is very keen that Mr.Seldon comes to the party, but Lily protest. I'm not sure if Lily doesn't want Mr.Seldon to come because she has feelings for him but knows she can't be with him because his not wealthy, or because she is embarrassed to be around him due to her run in with Mr.Rosedale. I was starting to believe it was possible that Lily did indeed have feelings for Mr.Seldon, but then she surprised me by making a comment about Mr.Gryce, "I only mean to say that Mr.Gryce and I are getting to be very good friends."(Wharton,35). Following that comment, Mrs.Trenor practically called her a gold-digger, which, in all reality, is true when it comes to Mr.Gryce. In the end of the chapter though, I was more than pleased with the arrival of Mr.Seldon. It is more than clear that Lily is drawn to him for some reason. While reading, I often experience the internal battle she is having in her mind. She so desperately wants to be apart of the upper class social circle, but I think she also knows she doesn't really belong...