House of Mirth

How refreshing it is to be reading a novel! I love literature, and getting into House of Mirth after so many philosophic and scientific readings is so nice. The descriptions Edith Wharton uses are fantastic, but I thought I would focus on her painting of civilization. After spending so much time on Nietzsche, Gandhi, Lao-tzu, and Rives and the topic of civilization, I thought it would be a good place to start.

"As he watched her hand, polished as a bit of old ivory, with its slender pink nails, and the sapphire bracelet slipping over her wrist, he was struck with the irony of suggesting to her such a life as his cousin Gertrude Farish had chosen. She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate" (6).

First of all, I am in love with the style of Wharton's writing. The description paints such a vivid picture that it is hard not to get caught up in Lily Bart and her world. My point is however, that Wharton describes Lily Bart as a "victim of the civilization which had produced her." Lily lives in a world that offers her nothing but marriage. Her sole purpose in life is to find a well-off husband who will be able to afford her expensive tastes. Bart says of marriage, "A girl must, a man may if he chooses" (10). Men will still be asked to dinner if they wear shabby clothes, women are asked to dinner based on what they are wearing. This double standard was prevalent in Bart's time. Although Gandhi saw civilization as industrialization, civilization also effected people and their social class and affiliations. Civilization seems to be a common theme studied in Core, and it has been discussed by philosophers, economists, and apparently even literary authors.