The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
After I finished the novel, I felt like I had been abused and confused, in the sense that we're left hanging here, wondering if she actually did die, and what her last word was. It was a cliff-hanger. I was overall very impressed, Wharton's writing style is timeless and intriguing through the use of metaphors and imagery. I didn't find myself bored, and was constantly frustrated and stabbed by the awful twist in the plot of the love between Lily and Seldon.
Also, I was frustrated by the absence of Wharton's answers. She proposed social issues, just to let them die with the main character- unless that's the point. It could be that she left these questions unfinished to alert the audience and elicit cause for discussion and controversy.
"He knelt by the bed and bent over her, draining their last moment to its lees; and in the silence there passed between them the word which made all clear" (Wharton, 268).
The end of the novel is painful, but it's comforting that something was made clear between them, and it makes me hopeful that she responded with the word "love".
I don't even think Wharton knows what the word is, it probably doesn't even matter. I'm frustrated.
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