"You think we live on the rich, rather than with them; and so we do, in a sense-but it's a privilege we have to pay for! We eat their dinners, and drink their wine, and smoke their cigarettes, and use their carriages and their opera-boxes and their private cars-yes, but there's a tax to pay on every on of those luxuries. The man pays it by big tips to the servants, by playing cards beyond his means, by flowers and presents....the girl pays it by tips and cards too...and always keeping herself fresh and exquisite and amusing!" (281).

Bart brings up an interesting point. The rich, even though they have a lot and should share with those who do not, share with the expectation that they will be paid back. It is almost as if they are Indian Givers. Each gift they give comes with a price. Americans today similarly struggle with debt. Credit card companies promise people what they want without having to pay for it...right away. What people don't realize is that they are getting into debt. People are paying off student loans far into their adulthood; some Americans spend their entire lives trying to get themselves out of debt.

"What is the truth? Where a woman is concerned, it's the story that's easiest to believe. In this case it's a great deal easier to believe Bertha Dorset's story than mine, because she has a big house and an opera box, and it's convenient to be on good terms with her" (237).

Lily Bart announces a common reality here. Sometimes, people believe what they want to believe, regardless of whether or not it is true. In Lily's materialistic society, money is synonymous with truth. Bertha can buy her own reality, and Lily must suffer the consequences.

Mrs. Fisher says, "That's Lily all over, you know: she works like a slave preparing the ground and sowing her seeds, but the day she ought to be reaping the harvest she oversleeps herself or goes off on a picnic...Sometimes...I think it's just flightiness, and sometimes I think it's because, at heart, she despises the things she's trying for" ( 198).

Mrs. Fisher seems to understand Lily through and through. Lily knows what she wants and is a master and manipulating her way into getting it. When she does get it, however, she lets go. Mrs. Fisher doesn't miss a beat when she realizes that Lily never really wants what she goes after in the first place. Even though she represents wealth and triviality, Mrs. Fisher seems to be as good at reading people as Lily is herself.

"Her daylight view of them necessarily differed from the cloudy vision of the night. The winged Furies were now prowling gossips who dropped in on each other for tea" (178).

"...she had to go upstairs for a lonely night, a night grim and sleepless as her tortured fancy...she had never learned to live with her own thoughts, and to be confronted with them through such hours of lucid misery made the confused wretchedness of her previous vigil seem easily bearable...Daylight disbanded the phantom crew and made it clear to her that she would hear from Selden before noon" (188).

I live by my mother's mantra: No matter how bad things seem at night, they will always seem better in the morning. Lily Bart seems to recognize this to be true. For some reason, the nighttime brings out the worst thoughts and emotions in people. The Furies Bart describes seem to lurk in the shadows. I feel lucky to have realized at a young age that sometimes it is best just to go to bed when I am upset about something. Morning brings a new outlook on life. Sunshine never fails to put even the worst problems in a happier setting. I can't count the number of times I have given this advice to a friend in distress late at night. Without fail, the morning brings hope.

"My idea of success...is personal freedom...from everything-from money, from poverty, from ease and anxiety, from all the material accidents. To keep a kind of republic of the spirit" (70) -Selden

We talked about this passage today in class when describing Selden's character. I think that this is a very moving idea. Things are nice to have, but they are just things. The real gift in this lifetime is to appreciate that over which man has no control. There is a piece of poetry my mom has hanging in her powder room; I happened to notice Professor Dolson has the same piece in her room the other day:

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful implanted in the human soul.” --Johann Wolfgang Goethe

My mom is a firm believer in appreciating the little things. Nature, poetry, art, music; these are the beautiful things in the world. A cute pair of shoes may be nice, but the truly beautiful things in this lifetime do not have price tags.

"She was too genuinely ignorant of the manipulations of the stock market to understand his technical explanations...she understood only that her modest investments were to be mysteriously multiplied without risk to herself" (88).

As our final is going to deal with the connection between Marx and House of Mirth, I focus on Lily Barton's concern with money as I read. Marx does not have a lot of faith in "capital" or hard cash. At the same time, Lily's life depends on it. Marx believes capital should be converted into common property. (Marx 170). The stock market does relate to marxism; however, because all people have a chance to yield a profit in the market regardless of their social status. Even Lily, an unmarried woman with not a lot of money can benefit.

Lily Bart is a woman with "game." Her coquettish nature and employment of tools of flirtation makes it seem as if men wouldn't be able to avoid falling into her trap. Today, it is always men who have the reputation of being "players." Flirting is a game. It is a give or take game about letting the opposite sex know you like them, but not letting them know you like them as much as you do. It is about curiosity and mystery. It is exciting, but at the same time confusing. Apparently this game has been around for a long time. Lily Bart has an amazing sense of interpreting people and knowing how to manipulate them.

"She began to cut the pages of a novel, tranquilly studying her prey through downcast lashes while she organized a method of attack. Something in his attitude of conscious absorption told her that he was aware of her presence: no one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper!" (16).

Lily Bart calls Mr. Percy Gryce her "prey." Long before the twenty first century of "players" and "ballers" (thank you to the Rap/R&B industry) Lily Bart herself recognizes that getting what you want requires manipulation and deception. She is an amazing reader of people as well. Bart can tell that Gryce has seen her and is shy because of the way he is reading his newspaper. His excessive interest stems from not the article itself, but the fact that he is afraid to look up and see her. The way humans communicate is fascinating. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just walk up to someone you like and say, "Hey, I like you?"