Lily Bart is an incredibly vain woman in The House of Mirth. She is a young, intelligent, manipulative woman whose soul purpose in life is to marry a rich man. The plot attempts to make her appear as the victim to the demands of society that she marry young and to a rich man. I found it hard, however, to have any sympathy for her plight. She analyzed every social interaction looking to give the correct answer to obtain a desirable outcome. There are many instances throughout that support my description of her, but I shall briefly mention a few.
Lily is good at playing people and gaining something from it. She played Mr. Trenor on their way back from the station where she went to pick him up. She goes into the fallout she and Mrs. Trenor had and her financial difficulties. She then says, “I didn’t mean to bore you with all this, but I want your help in making Judy understand that I can’t, at present, go on living as one must live among you all” (83). I love that. I was amused to read the phrase “I didn’t mean to bore you” as if it wasn’t apart of her calculations to get his help.
She is very conscious of her beauty and there is nothing wrong with that. Others around her are conscious of it too, especially the men. There is the scene at Bellomont where she is in front of her mirror after losing $300 at the card game of Bridge. In this scene the text reads, “her face looked hollow and pale, and she was frightened by two little lines near her mouth, faint flaws in the smooth curve of the cheek” (29). Oh no! How horrifying! It went on, “…petty cares should leave a trace on the beauty which was her only defense against them” (29). The fact that she is poor comes up throughout. I often wondered as I read what her definition of “middle class” was. I felt that the text was portraying two extremes and did not entertain the notion of being in the middle financially. She had a maid and in my mind that makes her wealthy. The wealth of her friends is clearly evident based on the descriptions given.
Wharton writes, “she was not made for mean and shabby surroundings, for the squalid compromises of poverty. Her whole being dilated in an atmosphere of luxury; it was the background she required, the only climate she could breathe in (27). Losing $300 didn’t help her situation any. That description of Lily really sums her up I think. The thought of not living a life where she did not have to worry about money and spending horrified her. It helped to drive her to find a wealthy man to marry.
The book makes several references to what society expects, but I found that to be an excuse to some extent. The expectations of society can’t explain away much of her behavior and thinking in my mind. Perhaps I am being too harsh in my assessment, but I couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with her one bit.
Very interesting post–and great response! I think I agree with Ashley here. She brings up the strong argument related to heredity (the idea that money is her environment again equates her situation with a sort of natural determinism–you wouldn’t expect a fish to be able to breath, after all). And she also highlights that other impulse–childish, romantic, yes, but also deeply authentic and against-the-grain. Alex’s reaction suggests an immediate dislike for Lily, and Ashley recovers some key moments that might temper this response. The bigger question, then, is what does Wharton seek to accomplish by offering this multi-faceted view of Lily where she appears calculating and manipulative, childish and endearing, helpless and domineering–and sometimes all at once?