An Analysis Of The Struggling Of Lily Bart In The House Of Mirth

As an American woman writer Edith Wharton's most conspicuous novel, The House of Mirth demonstrates the process of Lily's futile struggle in the aristocratic New York society, during which, her double voices of inner rebellion and outer suppression are in ubiquitous conflicts.The thesis consists of five parts. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to Edith Wharton's prestige in the American literary world, and the plot summary of The House of Mirth, and finally elicits the thesis statement of this paper. Chapter Two discusses Lily's perseverant struggling for true love and her failure to get it. It illustrates that Lily, with a disposition of double voices of inner rebellion and outer suppression, is eager to participate in the"republic of the spirit"that Selden has shown her in order to get the freedom outside the aristocratic society. Later, her performance in Mrs. Bry's tableaux vivants is a catalyst leading to her life tragedy because in this scene she becomes the very focus of male gaze. The paper then talks about Selden's indifference to her predicament and her adhering to rebellious inner voice to preserve true love. Chapter Three points out that hardships in economy also serve as a primary factor that entraps her into a dilemma of double voices. The representative Gus Trenor will be cited here to project Lily's naivety and helplessness in the male-centered business market to further explore her struggling for existence. Also, her rejection to Simon Rosedale's marriage proposal reveals her conformity to the voice of inner rebellion. Chapter Four displays Lily's struggling for women's rights altogether by showing her zest in philanthropy for lower-class women. It probes into her way of relinquishing the suppressed outer voice——that is by being a hat worker, refusing to accept Rosedale's money, and abandoning the last opportunity to resume her social status by using Bertha's love letters. The paper also explains her choice of death as her own way of realizing the rebellious inner voice, and offers a vindication for the crudest woman in the novel, Bertha Dorset. Finally comes the conclusion that Wharton discloses the covert cultural manipulation and the cruelty of phallocentrism. The paper also points out that Lily has made the rebellion to the patriarchy to its maximum in her own way and uttered her inner voice from time to time till her ultimate awakening of self-awareness. Thus, the novel has its significance to the women altogether and serves as a landmark in propelling the feminist movement.