The House of Mirth: Blog 2
Edith Wharton

     In chapter three, Wharton discusses one of the major themes of the book, the issue of money, in great detail. Before reading this chapter, I viewed Lily Bart as being very materialistic. She seemed only motivated to marry in order to get money out of the deal and she seemed to view social status as being extremely important. However, I find now that she is much deeper than that. It seems as though her mother is the materialistic one and only married Lily Bart's father for his financial wealth. I now see Ms. Bart as knowing money is important but also realizing there is more to life than being wealthy. Wharton says, "She would not indeed have cared to marry a man who was merely rich: she was secretly ashamed of her mother's crude passion for money" (Wharton, 27). I like this quote from the novel because it shows that even though it may not come off as such, Lily does not view money as the only important aspect of life. Lily seems to be the master at making others believe she has more money than she truly does because of her trendy wardrobe and attendance at many social events. While at first I was not particularly fond of Lily Bart's character, I am now beginning to like her.