The House of Mirth
Society identified a person based on their economical stability during the early nineteenth hundredths. But for women, money was their way of being known or recognized since women were not acknowledged at this time. In The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton includes the character of Lily Bart as determined in finding a wealthy husband in order to portray how during the nineteenth hundredths, a woman's main interest is how the economic stability drives their marriage status.
For many women, marrying a wealthy man was their way to escape the poverty and receive what they always wanted. Social class plays a big role with the main character Lily when she believes that her main goal is to marry a wealthy man. “Society is a revolving body which is apt to be judging according to its place in each man’s heaven;
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She believes that Cyrce who has money but is socially awkward, will want to marry her. It depicts how society will do anything to reach economic stability. Economic stability is an important issue with the character Lily for example, “But if Judy knew when Mrs.Fisher borrowed money of her husband, was she likely to ignore the same transaction on Lily’s part? If she was careless of his affections, she was painly jealous of his pocket” (Wharton 242), this portrays how Lily believes that a man’s job is to bring money to the house and not actually love his wife. It shows how women’s society main interest is just whether if the man has money or not. Lily is selective on choosing the “perfect husband”, for example, “Lily refuses to wholly
Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence offers a distinctive close examination of the Gilded Age's New York high society where critics have the opportunity to study and analyze several aspects of this exclusive American milieu, and as a result, the novel offers a glimpse of this society's social institutions of the time. In Age of Innocence, the elite of New York reside solely in their own sphere; they all live very close to one another, save for the van der Luydens, in a predetermined area, effectively shutting themselves from those outside their social circles. This isolation is shown with the uproar Ellen Olenska caused when she chose to place her home among artisans instead of other well-respected families, and it is further emphasized during
Bernice’s dull life and outlook on it is changed when Marjorie informs her, “‘What a blow it must be when a man with imagination marries the beautiful bundle clothes that he 's been building ideals round, and finds that she 's just a weak, whining, cowardly mass of affectations!’” (Fitzgerald, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” 5). Marjorie wants Bernice to become an interesting person who does not live for the chance to please a man. When Bernice asks her cousin, “‘Don 't I dance all right?’ Marjorie responds, ‘No you don 't-- you lean on a man; yes you do-- ever so slightly” (Fitzgerald, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” 6).
The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.
The House of Mirth, written in 1905 is an exemplary novel narrated through the eyes of an upper class woman. Through
The era’s “perfect woman”, Daisy Buchanan, is a bubbly, conflicted woman whose choice is between two men: her husband, Tom Buchanan, and her former lover Jay Gatsby. Since Daisy’s character was written in the 1920s, women’s characters were based on the traditional women of the time period, and many women then were still seen as objects and as less desirable than men. When Daisy is invited to Gatsby’s mansion, her first sight of him in many years upon seeing his expensive clothing, she is so overcome with emotion that she begins to weep “with a strained sound” and begins to “cry stormily” showing her true reaction to something as petty as material objects (92). She continues, claiming that
The Great Gatsby is a novel that discusses many issues around money in American society. A direct link to this is Daisy and Tom Buchanan, characters who represent the old money upper class. Throughout the story their true personality appears. The Buchanans’ are centered around wealth to the point that their relationship is built on money and class. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan convey the theme that when the foundation for a relationship is money in place of love the outcome is a hollow marriage.
In the story, Kidd’s use of characterization successfully reveals the theme that people's lives are more complex than they appear. Kidd demonstrates this theme using the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah. One character that Sue Monk Kidd uses to portray the theme, is the main character Lily. In the beginning of the story, the author shows that Lily can be both mature and immature at times. An example of her maturity in the text is when she says, “People who think dying is the worst thing don’t know a thing about life” (Kidd 2).
The recognition of her self-worth would make the other social ills, such as, class and racial stereotypes and social expectations become irrelevant, as she would recognise herself, and what she is worth (Larsen). Helga Crane desires to strive for inner happiness; rather than, the material wealth of the society would have made her happier. Her constant pursuit for happiness in the external society; rather than, the quest for happiness inwardly, caused her to seek gratification and happiness from material wealth and the chase from men (Larsen). The need for her to use her body and beauty to lure wealthy and affluent men reflects on her lack of gratification and appreciation for what she has and this would make her seek for status and class; rather than internal happiness. Helga constant search for leisure, beautiful surrounding, and attention, would have been replaced with a search for meaningful relationships, innate happiness, and the internal self-awareness and peace (Larsen).
Fitzgerald depicts the women of the novel as deceitful, sexual beings that are naturally subordinate to men through Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy exemplifies the naturally inferior role of women relying on the wealth of men in their lives to take care of them. When Daisy talks about her daughter she claims, “a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(21) establishing women’s subordinate role in which they are ignorant to the affairs of their husbands and expected to rely on their beauty to carry them through life. When Daisy is accused of infidelity with Gatsby in the hotel, Gatsby claims that Daisy is attracted to men of wealth and, “only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him]”(137).
In our class discussion we brought up how the early twentieth century was around the time the transition from the true woman to the new woman was happening. True women were the ones that valued marriage, spending most of their days at home taking care of the house and worrying about the kids. They didn’t really delve into politics or men’s affairs. The new women were starting to get jobs besides taking care of children, seen in public more, trying to have a voice politically, and it was common for them to not be married. I think Lily is ahead of her time and not comfortable with the fact that she wants to be a new woman.
“Social oppression is a concept that describes a relationship of dominance and subordination between categories of people in which one benefits from the systematic abuse, exploitation, and injustice directed toward the other.” This quote, stated by Ashley Crossman on Thoughtco, perfectly describes what oppression is especially from a feminist point of view. As Britannica stated, Feminism is “the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.” In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many relationships. However, none of them are based on love and in most of the relationship, the women are also being oppressed.
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is a great example of her works that looks at the role of women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Austen shows us the gender roles inflicted on women during this time period and how they are perceived. We see the strict gender roles that women were adhered to and the struggle for identity as a woman. Central to this novel is the vulnerability of women and the expectations surrounding gender influence everything and produce define results. Gender definitely determines and structures the world in which these characters live.
Right from the beginning of The House of Mirth, Wharton accentuates the issue of women being objectified in New York City’s wealthy class. There are many expensive, rare, and gilded objects and furnishings, including Percy Gryce’s Americana collection, set throughout the novel, and women, like these possessions, are also portrayed to be decorations made to be admired and publicly displayed. In short, women were like collectible objects: “it was perhaps her very manner of holding herself aloof that appealed to his collector’s passion for the rare and unattainable” (113). Rosedale’s statement quite literally describes Lily Bart as a beautiful item he wishes to obtain. Moreover, women—especially ones of exceptional beauty like Lily Bart—were social
The setting in “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” continues to convey the theme that women have been oppressed by society. Mabel faces oppression in the small english town where the story takes place. She explains that being a women does not matter as much when a family has money, but when they are poor she has to walk down the streets with her eyes low and avoid eye contact as she buys the cheapest item in every store (Lawrence 458). This shows that when a woman is seen as being represented by someone with power, in this case it is her father, then they are given a little respect. However, when a women is looked at just as herself and not as a rich man’s daughter she is not seen a colleague to men but as an object that is to be pitied.
During the 19th century, marriage was generally based on social standards and materialistic commodities rather than sentimental attraction. Pride and Prejudice is a novel that analyzes women and their contradicting attitudes towards marriage. Charlotte Lucas is a character that believes happiness is not a necessity as long as she is financially stable. Similarly, Jane Bennet is practical about her economic state while still recognizing the value of true love. In contrast, Lydia Bennet is young, immature and blinded by the idea of being admired.