11. The Writing Itself

The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton

For this post I wanted to write solely about the way Wharton emotes her plot. The fashion in which she constructs her text is highly effective, I say this because it is so easy to be fascinated and "wowed" by mere phrases and lines. My friend and I were talking about this novel and we both agreed that it is very "quotable". So many lines are crafted into sometimes abstract, but also apparent themes that carry the plot that it has the perfect quotes both for a blog exclusively about this novel, but also that explain and express humanity in some way. Here's what I mean:

1. "But it is one thing to live comfortably with the abstract conception of poverty, another to be brought in contact with its human embodiments" (Wharton, 122).
 I know I've already written a post dominated by this idea, but I was amazed with the connection and importance of such a far reaching topic in the context of Lily's life that is so centered around wealth.

2. "There were moments when she longed blindly for anything different, anything strange, remote and untried; but the utmost reach of her imagination did not go beyond picturing her usual life in a new setting. She could not figure herself as anywhere but in a drawing room, diffusing elegance as a flower sheds perfume" (Wharton, 81).
This quote is one with which I could once identify. Her longing for something different, something new is strong, but she can't (at this moment) imagine herself anywhere else. She lacks perspective, which is a problem many of us are faced with.

3. '"The world is too vile', she murmured, averting herself from Mrs. Fisher's anxious scrutiny. 'It's not a pretty place; and the only way to keep a footing in it is to fight it on its own terms- and above all, my dear, not alone!'" (Wharton, 204).
This is the typical "you're never alone" saying. The idea that we shouldn't be forced on in lonliness through a place not very pretty is very applicable to one view of humanity and that we should not have to fight alone.