Edith Whartons The House of Mirth - Book Report/Review Example

Although Lily's morality is not highly acclaimed in the society she lives in, it is obvious to the readers of the novel that she surpasses most other characters in the story for her morals. In The House of Mirth, morality does not offer any inspiring language, or alternative way of being. Instead, it unswervingly feeds into the mechanisms of the marketplace. Lily is a character who makes a very few moments of moral triumph all through the novel and her rebellion appeals to and presumes a transcendent moral order.

Thus, an analysis of the major character in the novel confirms that Lily Bart in the novel represents the awe-inspiring moral order which transforms a human being and lifts him from the chains of the social order and thinking. She develops a particular morality and triumphs as the protagonist who reveals the hypocrisy and destructive effects of the city's social and moral order. In fact, Lily is an outsider or "other" in her own society which follows a strange moral order that has several limitations.

Lily is in the pursuit of an important place in the rich society and her ethical principles lead to her demolition. A careful reader of the novel realizes that Lily's marriage problem is the result of her rejection of the life according to the expectations of her society. In short, the conventions of the society represent a hypocritical attitude towards morality and it is indubitable that Lily's morals, in reality, are stronger than those that surround her in her social circle. Lily, the protagonist in The House of Mirth, is presented as a young woman in seek of a husband who can earn her a place in the rich society.

However, she has great moral principles which trouble her in her pursuit of the entry into the society which is known for its hypocritical attitude towards moral values. She wants to transform the moral values of a society which has several false values of morality, but her ethical principles, which are not similar to that of the society, lead to her annihilation. The redemption of the major character is predicated on her elimination from the mercenary New York society. Accordingly, Lily Bart discards the false values of the society and tries to discover new ones to put the place of the existing codes of values.

Lily possesses several significant good qualities which cause danger to her status in the society, even while she moves in the society. Thus, the readers realize that the character has an inclination to look down at society's small hypocrisies. In the same way, she ignores the inconsequential restrictions and dictates of the society even to the detriment of her own status. She develops sensitivity to the needs and feelings of other characters in the novel due to her realization as a person dependent on others' goodwill a d financial support.

This type of sensitivity is, at first, used by the character merely as a tool to keep her position in the social circles. Thus, she is able to anticipate and give pleasure to her hostess or flatter a potential suitor etc. In all these attempts, she is merely probing to protect herself. As the character of Lily develops in the course of the novel, she is even able to understand what others feel. There is an important