The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
Lily is now a working-class girl, which is nearly the opposite of what she always intended to be. To her, her current situation is practically poverty, but she deals with it as to be independent, fearing another situation to the Gus Trenor fiasco. Selden realizes that Lily will never be happy in her current working conditions, but Lily is dependent on the money and wants to stay working for Mrs Hatch. Selden's visit does re-spark their feelings somewhat, which gives me hope of their relationship. As of now they're just friends, but Lily truly thinks over Selden's advice and eventually leaves Mrs Hatch and goes back to Gerty's. Lily then picks up an even shabbier job, a hat maker. The conditions are poor and the other workers gossip about her, saying that Lily had fallen from the upper class and now is a regular street urchin. Her life kept her up at night, having nightmares of what she had become. She purchased sleep medication, so that she could easily escape reality and drift into slumber. The medication is clearly dangerous since the book references the medicine as being dangerous in large doses. However, Lily believed that "the only hoe of renewal lay in the little bottle at her bed-side" (Wharton 241). I truly fear that this is the calm before the storm, good luck Miss Lily Bart.
No comments:
Post a Comment