In the early chapters of Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, the author shows the role of money in defining the economic class of New Yorkers in the late Victorian Era. However, when I first started reading the middle Chapters 8-15, I particularly thought about how money in that environment also defined her characters’ social class, and the calculated risks some characters took to boost their social rank. In writing this period piece, Edith Wharton focuses on those who aspired to be at the top of the social and financial food chain, and the necessity of vast wealth to achieve this goal. The novel follows the life of a woman named Lily Bart raised solely to marry a rich husband, choosing from among the eligible bachelors of New York’s high society. Women like Lily sought “the conventional rich marriage which she had been taught to consider the sole end ci existence-” (Wharton, 156). Nonetheless, for the vast majority of the city’s inhabitants during the later part of the 1800s, times were tough and money was tight. Working class New Yorkers resided near the bottom of both the economic classes, as well as the social classes of New York City.
…show more content…
However, for those at the pinnacle of the city’s social hierarchy, money was spent with reckless abandon. In fact, to be accepted among the city’s upper crust one had to both possess, as well as to spend, exorbitant amounts of money on lavish, extravagant items and activities. For example, Edith Wharton exemplifies the link between social climbing and excessive spending in a comment by a minor character. Van Alstyne [and Selden} take a walk down fashionable Fifth Avenue, admiring the expensive architecture. “That Greiner house, now-a typical rung in the social ladder!” (Wharton,159) . Thus, the extent of possessing and spending one’s extraordinary wealth, in this case on tony home , determined a person’s social rank within this elite club. Money was the measure by which all were judged as worthy or unworthy. Those who were judged to be unworthy, particularly a woman, had limited prospects without securing a rich husband who could reposition her as worthy. Accordingly, for women in New York’s high society at this time, money not only determined social rank, but also survival. The main character in the novel, Lily Bart, was a woman who gambled. She gambled with her life by constantly betting she could snare a richer and richer husband. She gambled at cards, to keep up appearances that she belonged in a social circle that required thoughtless spending as a requirement for inclusion. However, since Lily lived well above her means, and as a result of this gambling, her life teetered on the edge between luxury and poverty. After losing dizzying amounts of money from gambling at cards at her friends’ dinner parties, and hounded by growing debts, Lily accepted the financial support of a wealthy married man named Gus Trenor, to attempt to dig herself out. In so doing, Lily gambled with her reputation; Lily chose to assume there would be no strings attached in accepting Gus investment assistance, and gambled with the money he lent her by playing the stock market. Edith Wharton conveys Lily’s feelings upon receiving income from Gus’ investing on her behalf. “The first thousand dollar cheque which Lily received… strengthened her self-confidence” (Wharton, 85). Lily naively
However, for those at the pinnacle of the city’s social hierarchy, money was spent with reckless abandon. In fact, to be accepted among the city’s upper crust one had to both possess, as well as to spend, exorbitant amounts of money on lavish, extravagant items and activities. For example, Edith Wharton exemplifies the link between social climbing and excessive spending in a comment by a minor character. Van Alstyne [and Selden} take a walk down fashionable Fifth Avenue, admiring the expensive architecture. “That Greiner house, now-a typical rung in the social ladder!” (Wharton,159) . Thus, the extent of possessing and spending one’s extraordinary wealth, in this case on tony home , determined a person’s social rank within this elite club. Money was the measure by which all were judged as worthy or unworthy. Those who were judged to be unworthy, particularly a woman, had limited prospects without securing a rich husband who could reposition her as worthy. Accordingly, for women in New York’s high society at this time, money not only determined social rank, but also survival. The main character in the novel, Lily Bart, was a woman who gambled. She gambled with her life by constantly betting she could snare a richer and richer husband. She gambled at cards, to keep up appearances that she belonged in a social circle that required thoughtless spending as a requirement for inclusion. However, since Lily lived well above her means, and as a result of this gambling, her life teetered on the edge between luxury and poverty. After losing dizzying amounts of money from gambling at cards at her friends’ dinner parties, and hounded by growing debts, Lily accepted the financial support of a wealthy married man named Gus Trenor, to attempt to dig herself out. In so doing, Lily gambled with her reputation; Lily chose to assume there would be no strings attached in accepting Gus investment assistance, and gambled with the money he lent her by playing the stock market. Edith Wharton conveys Lily’s feelings upon receiving income from Gus’ investing on her behalf. “The first thousand dollar cheque which Lily received… strengthened her self-confidence” (Wharton, 85). Lily naively