Saturday, July 14, 2012

A Choice Worth Making?

Now approaching the end of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, I think I've reached the climax of the plot.  Lily's life has declined to standards of living which she is not happy with, she has few friends left, and she still has yet to find a husband.  She has received minimal money in her aunt's will.  She has no secure source of income and no guaranteed place to live in the distant future.  The only true way for her to fix the situation is to get married.  Luckily for her, tow men, Mr. Dorset and Mr. Rosedale have made it clear that they are willing to marry her if she meets certain requirements.  I believe this is the climax of the story because her choice now will effect the rest of her life and the end of the novel.  Her problem is that neither choices are ideal.  Will she make the choice between Dorset and Rosedale or will she simply not choose between the two at all and try to pave her own path through life?  Based on her past decisions, I think that she will not be able to marry either of them.  In order to marry either men, she will have to choose adapt to live with a husband who she ultimately does not like and definitely doesn't love.  "The situation, however, was not agreeable enough to lull her to complete unconsciousness of its insecurity" (p200).The time has passed where she is only looking for wealth in a marriage.   If she has doubts about her future happiness, I don't think she will choose a husband.  Also, choosing either husband would require her to make a move which could be interpreted as socially unacceptable by some, which goes against her attitude completely.  I'll have to keep reading to truly find out, but I think she has gone too far for the book to end with a happy marriage.

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