Review on The House of Mirth (by Edith Wharton)
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Selden subtracted a star
Wharton is indeed brilliant in sculpting a realistic fallible heroine torn between her inner angel and demon. Lily is as much a victim of society as of her own fickleness and pride. She makes the same stupid mistakes over and over again, but don’t we all do?
However, I was very puzzled and disappointed by the author’s mute treatment of Selden’s past affair. I kept looking for Lily’s jealousy or lamentations, or Selden’s reflection on his past mistake, or Bertha’s crazy rants on her romantic exploit, or at least a snarky comment by anyone else throughout the book, to no avail. It was carelessly mentioned before suddenly becoming a major plot device while all the emotional and moral ramifications of the affair itself were conveniently left out. Wharton made Lily wallow in shame for half the book just for “considering” using this to “blackmail” Bertha to protect herself, yet everyone seemed to forget that hey, somebody had an affair with a married woman, and a vile viper at that! Selden’s sensitivity to honor and higher values was what attracted Lily – he was her conscience! I can accept if Selden admitted this to be an embarrassing moral blemish, unfortunately he suffered selective amnesia over this important history. This makes him intolerably hypocritical as he constantly judged Lily for things she did not even do. You just had a sexual adventure with a married woman, and now you are disgusted at seeing a girl standing alone with a married man at night? Are you kidding me? It could have worked if Wharton meant to be ironic, but a complete lack of literary treatment made me conclude otherwise. For a novel heavily focused on the subtlest moral nuances, this oversight is hardly excusable. It makes Lily’s “should I use the letters or not” moral climax contrived, for taking Selden’s involvement out of the affair, it becomes a simple act of self-defense.
This leads to another unsolved paradox: if Selden had the high taste Wharton made him to have, how could he have romped with the basest and cheapest woman in the first place? Or did you mean he is just a cheap man talking high and Lily ruined herself for a lie? I demand an explanation! This mystery so conflicts with the novel’s theme of soul-mating, that proper page dedication could have added wonderful complexity to the current pale, inconsistent character Selden is. House of Mirth is all about wasted opportunities, and I cannot help but find Selden’s free-pass for his past a critical literary flaw. While other reviewers debate about Lily, it was Selden who soiled a good novel for me.
Wharton is indeed brilliant in sculpting a realistic fallible heroine torn between her inner angel and demon. Lily is as much a victim of society as of her own fickleness and pride. She makes the same stupid mistakes over and over again, but don’t we all do?
However, I was very puzzled and disappointed by the author’s mute treatment of Selden’s past affair. I kept looking for Lily’s jealousy or lamentations, or Selden’s reflection on his past mistake, or Bertha’s crazy rants on her romantic exploit, or at least a snarky comment by anyone else throughout the book, to no avail. It was carelessly mentioned before suddenly becoming a major plot device while all the emotional and moral ramifications of the affair itself were conveniently left out. Wharton made Lily wallow in shame for half the book just for “considering” using this to “blackmail” Bertha to protect herself, yet everyone seemed to forget that hey, somebody had an affair with a married woman, and a vile viper at that! Selden’s sensitivity to honor and higher values was what attracted Lily – he was her conscience! I can accept if Selden admitted this to be an embarrassing moral blemish, unfortunately he suffered selective amnesia over this important history. This makes him intolerably hypocritical as he constantly judged Lily for things she did not even do. You just had a sexual adventure with a married woman, and now you are disgusted at seeing a girl standing alone with a married man at night? Are you kidding me? It could have worked if Wharton meant to be ironic, but a complete lack of literary treatment made me conclude otherwise. For a novel heavily focused on the subtlest moral nuances, this oversight is hardly excusable. It makes Lily’s “should I use the letters or not” moral climax contrived, for taking Selden’s involvement out of the affair, it becomes a simple act of self-defense.
This leads to another unsolved paradox: if Selden had the high taste Wharton made him to have, how could he have romped with the basest and cheapest woman in the first place? Or did you mean he is just a cheap man talking high and Lily ruined herself for a lie? I demand an explanation! This mystery so conflicts with the novel’s theme of soul-mating, that proper page dedication could have added wonderful complexity to the current pale, inconsistent character Selden is. House of Mirth is all about wasted opportunities, and I cannot help but find Selden’s free-pass for his past a critical literary flaw. While other reviewers debate about Lily, it was Selden who soiled a good novel for me.