However, Edith Wharton goes further and shows the duplicity of New York’s elite, satirizing its greed, hypocrisy, corruption, and hasty judgments passed on others. Similarly, The House of Mirth presents Lily Bart who clings ferociously to a rich life-style while being reluctant to give up either her freedom or sense of independence. Scott Fitzgerald ’s The Beautiful and Damned, where a couple who is used to the prestige and easy-life in the heart of New York City suddenly finds itself facing bankruptcy, waiting for their inheritance. It now reminds of a later published novel by F.
The House of Mirth’s main theme is probably the most “delicious” premise in fiction – “a socialite fallen on hard times”. To what extent can she still count on the kindness of others to survive in the world that is increasingly becoming unforgiving and even hostile, full of social traps and intrigues? Considered scandalous upon its release, but converted Wharton into a successful author virtually overnight, this satire on New York City’s high society through the in-depth portrayal of a modern and increasingly fragile woman conveys the sheer pathos of a situation whereby individual willpower and the independence of spirit find themselves at odds with societal demands and expectations. Miss Bart, free-spirited, fun-loving, popular and, in her own words, “ horribly poor – very expensive], soon faces an unenviable position worsened by the fact that she still loves shopping, jewellery and luxury. Her beauty and financial resources declining, she notices changes in the society’s perception of her. In this book, Lily Bart, a young woman from once aristocratic but now impoverished family, has reached her twenty-ninth year without finding a husband.
“ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth”.
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