The House of Mirth: Blog 8
Edith Wharton

     After finishing book one of The House of Mirth, it is still not know who Lily will ultimately marry. Currently, three men seem to be in the running. These men are Trenor, Selden, and Rosedale. Each man comes with quite a bit of baggage and reasons for Lily not to marry him.
     The first man Lily has a run-in with is Mr. Trenor. He tricks Lily into seeing him alone and becomes very angry with her when she does not want to stay. I think the main reasons of him wanting to talk to Lily is to remind her of the money she supposedly owes him and to express his disgust at the idea of Lily and Selden being together. I don't think she owes him anything because he agreed to help her. Also, Lily and Selden are not together, it is only a rumor.
     The second man, whom she never actually gets to see in these three chapters, is Selden. Selden wrote Lily wanting to meet the next day. She told him she would meet him at four but added "I can easily put him off when tomorrow comes" (Wharton, 113). I don't understand why she keeps wanting to put him off. I think, at this point, she hasn't realized her love for him still. Later in these chapters, when Selden doesn't come and she finds he has sailed off for Havana and the West Indies, she realizes she does truly love him.
     Lastly, is Rosedale. When Lily was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Selden, Rosedale showed up instead. In a seemingly creepy way, he asked her to marry him saying "I've got the money, and what I want is the woman- and I mean to have her too" (Wharton, 143). Lily knows she does not want to marry him so she tells him that she needs time to think. Later, when she finds out Selden is never coming, I think, for a minute, she wanted to take Rosedale up on the offer. She began to write him but couldn't find the words she wanted to say.
     As the first book finishes, Lily is left with three men. The first being a married man who seems to want to control Lily. The second being a middle class man who knows money is not the most important possession. And the third being a wealthy man who simply wants a woman to take care of. As I've said before, I have been rooting for Selden the entire time. He seems sweet and I loved that in these three chapters Wharton tells us of his humble upbringings. He was brought up learning that one can live on just a little amount of money quite comfortably. I love that about him and he seems to be sweet, not pushy like the other two men. With him having sailed off, I'm not sure if he will ever return and win Lily's hand.