Women Blinded by Economics
During the Gilded Age many people became extremely rich and kept getting richer and richer, while on the other hand the poor just kept getting poorer during this era. The economics during this time period was an essential of being categorized as a “well known” citizen or a “common” citizen in society. The line between the economic classes was drawn very distinctly at this time in the world. In “The House of Mirth,” by Edith Wharton, this fact of economic segregation is brought to ones attention several times. Edith Wharton shows this separation especially when it comes to the women characters in the book and how they interact in society. Wharton shows the differences between economics and women through the main character, Lily Bart, and how she is a slave to money, also the truth about how women during these times are dependent on the males in their lives to support them, and how Lily’s family views money.
Lily Bart is the main character that throughout the entire novel is caught between the economic strain in her life and happiness. Lily Bart has never been around a lot of money while she was growing up, but the entire story is about her trying to be something she is not. This is a huge irony in the story because Lily thinks she has freedom when she meets a man that is wealthy, but she is really hurting herself because she will never be truly happy with someone like that. The other side to this irony is that when Lily gets farther and farther into debt she feels that she enslaved. This comes when she meets men that are not up to the standard of living that she wants them to be at. The best example of this is when Lily meets Seldon and does not marry him because he does not flaunt his money like other men she has met. Wharton shows that during this day and age the females depend on males to give them a great lifestyle so that they are not known to be apart of the poor half of the society.
The biggest theme in this book is how Wharton paints the picture of women being totally dependent on the men in their lives. Wharton definitely expresses this through Lily Bart and how she deals with money. The fact that Lily cannot even recognize when she is extremely far in debt and that marrying someone that has a lot of money will not solve all of her problems. Another example of the female sex being dependent on the male sex is when Wharton brings the Trenor’s and Dorsett’s to the reader’s attention. These two families, actually couples, are very wealthy people in this society. These are the people that always have the lavish parties and invite only the other most wealthy and well known people from town to their gatherings. Mrs. Trenor shows at many times during parties she throws that the most important reason she married her husband is because she is able to throw these magnificent parties. She likes to have the most expensive and best items at her dinners. Read more…
