Blindness and Insight in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth: Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth is no doubt one of the most celebrated writings in the literature world. The novel depicts a rather affront to false social values of the fashionable New York society. The protagonist character in Lily Bart is a woman who is put on the sword by the very society that produces her. Although she is well born, she falls on the poor side of the social lifestyle. Throughout the novel, Lily's life is traced to decline as she moves from one household to hotel lodgings. Women are portrayed as the symbol of decoration and desirability in the novel as it is clear through Lily's life as being the flower of femininity. This paper proposes to discuss the aspect of blindness and insight as portrayed in the novel The House of Mirth, something that is clear through the eyes of the protagonist character.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The novel is full of ironic situation that suggests the path at which a woman is forced through. Apparently, most women who are certainly accepted in the society dominated by men are in a position of maintaining the role of being worthy through their husbands who supply them with funds to achieve their status. However, Lily gets an insight of this situation when she ponders her entire marriage to Percy Gryce. To him, she was in a position that is described as "what Americana hitherto had been: the one possession in which he took sufficient pride to spend money on." Nonetheless, the society that requires its women to be insincere creatures and merit worth particularly by appearance is the very society that immediately fails to acknowledge a woman who happens to be intent on marrying a man who has wealth. This can be expressed as rather a kind of blindness that the overall society assumes to be in yet it flourish in ironic realism. This is certainly one of Lily's characters that that denies her of joining in the blind molded society because she is not in a good position of hiding her desire of marrying a wealthy man.

Having lost her mother, Lily goes through dilemma on who would be responsible for taking care of her. In the long run, her aunt decided to her and therefore gives her pocket money as well as a place to live. However, most part is being managed by her wealthy and able friends who agree to keep on replenishing her wardrobe and continue to keep her among their level. The over-dependence of other people and having no virtual setting of her own deprives her of freedom to express her true worth and therefore she is submerged in a sort of blindness. However, she gains insight of the freedom one has upon having one's own place with the possibility of goodness when she visited Selden's apartment.in this light, she says, "If I could only do over my aunt's drawing-room I know I should be a better woman." Noteworthy, this becomes the overall sign of her rootlessness and self-doubt keeping in mind that she is well aware of her position in the New York society yet she continues complaining about her friends. The author uses the notion of blindness and insight at the same time implying that although Lily knew that her friends were exploiting her, she could not escape the fancy life she was getting from them thus the situation keeps on in a circle.

Primarily, the aspect of blindness is also clear when she is used by her friends as a secretary to write notes and as an object of blinding their boring, suspicious as well as importunate husbands. At this moment she does not see as being used to fulfill her friend's needs and therefore caught in a rather blind situation. While she is caught between all these scenarios, her relatives do not understand why she keeps on being in the group of married men yet herself she was not married. Nonetheless, she is enlightened and vows not to please anyone. The author clearly indicates that Lily acknowledges that she can no longer fit into the society and she is therefore unarmed in the societal setting where she decides to rehabilitate herself in a rather slightly lower level, nonetheless, the city continues humiliating her.

In essence, the aspect of blindness can as well be seen under the sleeve of the people of New York where they are blinded with fancy life and fail to understand the meaning of life itself. Apparently, it is evident that no medicine can cure the rift that lies between accepting what is right and wrong. The society has a negative perspective of who a woman is and especially as represented by Lily who is mistreated by others and always undermined because she had no money and could not match the lifestyle that others were living. The society is blinded not to see the humility in lily and they often have a negative perspective towards her in the entire novel. In this light, the society offers a very limited role to women. The level of blindness that the society is filled is strong enough to make Lily think that a girl has to marry is she desires to get out of the dingy routine. At some point, even Selden who had reservations for Lily is blackmailed by the negativity that the society had put on her and he sees her as being wrong.

In a world which is run by the upper circle of the social class, there was an economic period where women were oppressed being forced to live in a world of rules of conduct, lily is suffocated and unable to escape the whole ordeal. Women only got married with an aim of acquiring social status and she is too trapped in a similar scenario having married a wealthy man who would support her needs. In this viewpoint, she portrays a woman who tries to rebel the very constrictions of patriarchal culture. The expectation of the society towards women was very cruel yet the same women were blinded to undermine their fellow in form of Lily. At the end of the novel, Lily is determined to pay back the debt she had after she received the inheritance of ten thousand dollars. Throughout the novel, Lily is blinded by the very society that mistreats her yet she ironically receives insight into her death and she can no longer face cruelty in the society. Through Lily's death, Selden got an insight of who Lily was through the documents he passes over. He became even more in love with her after discovering that she indeed was a good person.

Conclusion

In the nutshell, it is evident that Edith Wharton has been successful in the act of portraying the role of women in the society through the protagonist character. Additionally, the novel illustrates how the New York society is blinded by the economic status where everyone particularly women are fighting to marry wealthy men to acquire high status. There are many instances where lily is blinded by the very society that threatens her life and treat her cruelty. She is certainly convinced that a woman has to depend on a man to acquire societal status and being respected. In this light, she is suffocated by the societal ways to live a life that she cannot fit in. on the other hand, the author comes forth in highlighting the level of insight that the character experience throughout the novel. While there are few instances where the aspect of insight is shown, it is clear that Lily finally recognizes the level of freedom one has when in possession of personal properties. This is shown through Selden lifestyle. Noteworthy, Selden also gets insight into who Lily is after she died. It is therefore clear that the author successfully merges the act of blindness and insight in illustrating what the characters underwent throughout the novel.