The House of Mirth: What does Lily Bart want?

Logic Stage: What does the main character want?  What is standing in her way?  What strategy does she pursue in order to overcome this block?

Lily has been raised to believe that she must avoid a poor, dingy life, and that the only way she can avoid that kind of life is to marry a wealthy man within high society so that she may be part of high society, too.  Apparently, Lily thinks that is her calling in life. 

Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart

The reader certainly hears this enough to believe that it must be true, but Lily’s behavior or actions demonstrate the opposite: Lily is repulsed by the actions of the people in high society.  Even more so, she is not like them, and she does not play their games.

It would not be strange to say that Lily does not want that life at all; even Lawrence told her that she really hates the very things that she claims to desire.  She knows it is true, and that is why she turned down opportunities that would have given her exactly what we thought she wanted. 

Instead, what she really wants is her will to make her own free choices; but she continues to find that, given her gender, time period she is living in, and lack of finances - all of which are obstacles - she cannot have that freedom and independence without depending on a man, who by the way has a lot more choices, freedom, and fewer limitations than women of her time. 

Certainly, Lily may choose to work “like a pig” for a living, but she would probably never reach the luxury of high society on her own.  That’s where a husband would come in - a wealthy one; but he would be a total bore, probably.  She cannot win. 

And that brings us to the final question: what does she do to overcome her block?  Well, she never does overcome her obstacles because she cannot change society, at least on her own, and she is not about to make any sacrifices.  Wharton is so good at presenting this tragic condition that for a moment I actually thought, “There is nothing more for her to do.  She has no recourse.  Everything is working against her.  Her next option is to check into a homeless shelter and be dependent on others to care for her daily needs because she cannot help herself.”  But I know it is not true.  There was hope, but she did not take my advice; and so ends her dilemma.  

The House of Mirth: The Most Important Event

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is one of the more difficult books I have ever read.  Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book, suggests reading through the first time without stopping to look up words, but how can one understand context if he does not understand the vocabulary?  And even more demanding than word usage is Wharton’s complex plot.  I thought Leo Tolstoy was complex?  Ha!

So here is an attempt at decent answers of TWEM’s three-stage questions:

Grammar Stage: What is the most important event (when the main character changes)? 

When I began The House of Mirth I was disappointed by Lily’s bad choices, especially when she was not truthful.  She presented herself to certain people as someone she was not in order to gain acceptance.  Most of the time her deception got her into trouble. 

However, by the second book, I saw another side to Lily.  No matter how many times she is shunned or insulted, used or knocked down, often not her fault, Lily just keeps on going; she is like a leaf floating atop a stream wherever it takes her.  

Lily Bart

No matter how many times she gets herself into an uncompromising situation, she maintains her civility and graciousness.  Even in her weakest moment, she acted honorably: she paid her debt when she could have kept her small inheritance, and she could have blackmailed that evil Bertha Dorset, but instead destroyed the letters that would have exposed Bertha’s hypocrisy or gained financial reward.  (Well, maybe.)  Many times she could have protested the lies told about her to clear her name or gotten  even by playing the same game, but she didn’t.  Whatever the case, Lily was not one to hurt, target, or use others intentionally as had been done to her.  She always acted admirably, and this gives the reader cause to like Lily.

Now this brings me to the most important event - when Lily changes.  I think right after she loses her second job, we see her succumb to her failing health and her sadness of being alone.  She believes, and with good reason, that she has no other options.  She has hit bottom; she doesn’t seem herself anymore.  She is out of choices and is very aware of it.  That’s when she formulates a “plan,” although the author does not tell us what it is.

When she runs into Nettie, the poor, unhealthy woman whom Lily helped some years back, Nettie is doing well, married with a baby, though still poor; but she is happy, healthy, and hopeful.  Sitting with Lily, one may think that the two women have since traded places.

The reader may see that Lily still has options.  Look at Nettie!  There is still hope!  But we shall never know if Lily thought the same.  

The House of Mirth: Book Two

I have come to the conclusion of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, and this is my summary of the chapter summaries for Book Two.  Beware of spoilers!

To read part one, see Book One summary.

Thinking it easier to run from her troubles, Lily vacations in Europe with Bertha Dorset, who uses Lily to distract her husband, George, so that she, Bertha, may flirt with young, intriguing Ned Silverton. 

Bertha is like a spoiled child who has to be the center of attention, and when she sees that Lily is reaping attention from the royals she accuses Lily of acting inappropriately with her husband; hence Bertha now has reason to expel Lily from the group.

Then Aunt Julia dies.  Before her death, she heard about the rumored affair between Lily and George and assumes it to be true.  She altered her will and left enough to Lily to cover her debt with Mr. Trenor.  But she left everything to the Stepney’s, including the house, leaving Lily no place to live.

Rosedale knows that Bertha is spreading lies about Lily, and he reminds Lily that she has power over Bertha if she would expose Bertha’s love letters to Lawrence; but Lily, using principle, will not hurt Bertha or Lawrence.  Besides, Lily believes that Bertha will always have the upper hand because of her wealth; and wealth is power.

Carry Fisher helps Lily find work, and Gerty Farish asks Lawrence to help Lily.  Lawrence visits Lily, and is cold toward her, though he suggests she leave her employment because her employer is involved with the group of high society that ostracized Lily.  Lily does leave, but not before she is blamed for something that she had no part.  Now her relationship with Lawrence is strained, too.

Her friends find her new employment sewing hats, and Lily now lives meagerly in a boarding house.  She is worn out, run down, and extremely lonely.  Eventually, she is let go from this job.

Lily has hit bottom.  She visits Lawrence to confess her folly.  She is not herself, though she does something noble with the love letters from Bertha; she destroys them.  

Finally, Lily receives her inheritance and, even in her dire situation, knows it is right to prepare a deposit and write out a check to Trenor.  She does and leaves it for the night.  She takes an extra dose of sleep aid to relieve her sleeplessness and thinks about what she remembers she wanted to tell Lawrence.

Meanwhile, Lawrence arrives the next morning to tell Lily what he also realized he wanted to tell her: that he loves her.   But it is too late: Lily will never wake again.

The House of Mirth: Book One

A bit of trivia from Edith Wharton Society: the title (The House of Mirth)...is taken from Ecclesiastes 7:4: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."

Here is my summary of Book One without too many spoilers:

Main character, Lily Bart, 29, beautiful, single, and "poor," lives with her rich aunt in New York and desperately wants to avoid living a single, independent, and dingy life, "like a pig."  She must marry well.

When she was 19, her father financially ruined the family before he died, leaving Lily and her mother with nothing.  Her mother loathed poverty and hoped Lily's beauty would enable her to marry into wealth.  When her mother dies, Lily's Aunt Julia takes her in.

Lily's beauty, family connections to wealth, and her aunt's generosity enable Lily entrance into prominent social circles in New York.  She pursues a handsome, rich bachelor named Percy Gryce, though he is extremely boring.  Such is the price Lily would have to pay if she never wants to worry about money.  To her benefit, Mr. Gryce is interested in her, and there may have been a deal had Lily not ruined it by putting him off.  Why did she let him slip away?

Lily has a fascinating friend, Lawrence Selden, who makes a decent living because he works hard for it; but unlike those in high society, Lawrence does not care about money.  He and Lily are like opposites: to Lily, success is getting what you can out of life; to Lawrence, success is personal freedom - "to keep a republic of the spirit."  With Lawrence, Lily can be herself.  He knows her better than she knows herself, and they work well together.  He loves Lily, yet she will not reciprocate.

Since Lily is not honest with others in high society, she gets into uncompromising situations because of her deceitfulness or fear of truth.  She lies to Mr. Rosedale, an extremely wealthy and powerful social climber, about being with Lawrence, which she later regrets because she knows he is going to spread rumors about her.  She gains financial help from Gus Trenor, her friend's husband, while he continuously pursues Lily in return for romantic favors.  How long will it be until she tells him no and reminds him that he is married?  She also lies to her aunt about how much money she owes, to whom, and why.

Numerous complications occur for Lily as she digs a hole for herself that she cannot get out of.  But why does she keep going back to that circle of society?  Lawrence warns her: "the things she desires will not make her happy.  In fact, she really hates them."  If only she could see how content she would be if she would admit that Lawrence is the best life for her.  But, no!

The night that Lily ends up in a dangerous situation with an angry Gus Trenor and escapes just in time, Lawrence witnesses her leaving.  He gets the wrong idea and is hurt; all the ideas about her having an affair with Trenor must be true.

At the end of Book One, Lily expects to meet with Lawrence the next day, but he never shows.  Brokenhearted, he leaves the States without even sending her a note goodbye.

To continue reading, see Book Two summary.

Anna Karenina: The Movie

Anna Karenina 2012

As I have mentioned in my previous post for Heart of Darkness regarding "Apocalypse Now," this is a book blog, and I do not do movie reviews; and, yet, here I go again with another late movie review: this one is of "Anna Karenina," which came out in 2012.

Well, it is not really a movie review, but rather a friendly opinion to those thinking about seeing the movie and skipping the book.

I finished Anna Karenina last year, and I was apprehensive about seeing the 2012 version of the film because I had enjoyed the book so much.  From the trailer, I was not sure about the theatrical presentation of the story.

Yet, I decided against good instincts to rent it from Amazon Instant Video for $4.99.  Here is my honest opinion: within the first few minutes of the opening scene, I actually began to ponder about the return policy of Amazon's Instant Video.  "I wonder how complicated returns are for Instant Video?"

It was such a disappointment, as I did watch it all the way through reluctantly.  In my opinion, the theatrical presentation does not work for this solemn and intricate plot.  Seriously, I began to worry that those who watched the film without reading the book first would now never care to read the book because the movie completely ruined the story!

If you have never read Anna Karenina, if you are intimidated by its size, if you think the shorter movie version would satisfy your curiosity, I would beg you to put aside your concerns, make time for the book, and don't waste $4.99 on the movie.   If you need more proof, read the reviews for the film first; had I done so, I would not have rented it at all.

Update Concerning Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is done and over with - buried - kaput! or something like that.  While this is not a movie review blog, I did mention in my first post about the title that Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979) was inspired by the book.

Truly, I do not understand how HOD can inspire anything.  It was dark and depressing.  I suppose Oliver DeMille would consider it a broken story: these are stories that portray evil as evil and good as good, and evil wins.  Broken stories are not uplifting, but they can inspire us to change what is not right.  I certainly did not feel inspired by HOD, but I guess Coppola was in some way inspired to make a movie about it.  I don't know if that counts.

Martin Sheen as Capt. Willard

Nonetheless, last week I did watch "Apocalypse Now."  While the setting and characters are different, as well as the ending, there are numerous similarities to HOD, including that the main character heads up the Nung River in Vietnam to assassinate an officer named Kurtz who has gone off independently to run his own war in Cambodia and has become like a god to the local native people.

Dennis Hopper (worships Kurtz)

It was so dark and depressing.  Oh, I said that already.  Truly it was difficult to watch.  And my husband and I totally skipped over the Playboy Bunny scene, too.

Robert Duvall

About the only thumbs up I can give for the film is that it starred many famous actors in their youth, such as Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, Lawrence Fishburne, a hippy Dennis Hopper, and Marlon Brando.  That Robert Duvall character was a hoot. (He won a Golden Globe for this.)

Marlon Brando as Kurtz

Yet, for the life of me, I cannot understand how it received so many stars on the Tomatometer; but the viewers overwhelmingly love "Apocalypse Now."  Then again, I suppose I have always been a little off when it comes to popular opinion.

Post Script: Apparently, the ladies at Classic Case of Madness did the extra credit work, too, and wrote up a review of "Apocalypse Now."  Check it out!

Why I like to know the author before I read

I love my Barnes & Noble Classics copy of The House of Mirth.  It includes a quotes page, a short  introduction of the author, and a page dedicated to the world of Edith Wharton which chronologically lists important world and literary events that occurred during the author's lifetime.

Then there is an introduction by someone other than the author, which I can read after I read the entire novel.  At the back of the book there is a section dedicated to other works that were inspired by this title, such as films; a comment section about the author by other significant individuals, like other authors; and finally, a section of thought-provoking questions for the reader, just like my rhetoric questions from The Well-Educated Mind.

It's a small world!  Edith Wharton was close friends with Henry James and socialized in literary circles with F. Scott Fitzgerald, of whom I am going to read next: The Great Gatsby.

Henry James & Edith Wharton
credit: Surviving Transition

I believe it is beneficial to know something about the author before I read because it does help me understand why the author wrote the story.  My architecture professor in college taught his students to always ask "why" someone does what they do because it is useful in understanding people.

It contributes to the connection of life events that may have influenced the writer.  Sometimes the author may even be recognizable in one of the characters.  And I think it also aids in empathy towards the author and his or her message.  It just makes for a better experience for me, although in some cases it doesn't always work, such as for Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which also was a Barnes & Noble Classics.

It does not have to be a Barnes & Noble Classic since I can do the research on my own.  It is just convenient that they have everything I need right there between the covers.

And with that, I am ready to begin reading my new novel.