The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
I was right, last section really was the calm before the storm. Allow me to elaborate: her sleeping medication has made most aspects of her life suffer. She got fired from her hat job, she meets people like Rosedale and Selden and is a total emotional wreck, and she is in a mental daze nearly all her waking hours. She goes to Selden in hope of something, anything really, hoping that he can help her through her emotions. The most shocking and saddening events occur near the end of this section. Lily empties all of her emotions onto Selden, including her romantic interests in him. They proclaim that they love eachother, but the "new Lily" can't be with Selden, so she wants "old Lily" to be with him. This suggests that Lily will leave and never come back, that she is running away from her life. I'm depressed knowing that Selden and Lily aren't together, but happy that they were always meant to be, like a forbidden love of sorts. Before the section ends, Lily "went up to him and laid her hands on his shoulders. 'Goodbye,' she said, amd as he bent over she touched his forehead with her lips" (Wharton 252). Lily Bart may be gone for good...
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