The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
Poor Mr. Gryce. This show Lily is convincingly acting out is merely reality to him. She has him under the impression that she finds his "neglect of religious oberservances repugnant to her early traditions" (Wharton, 40). What an angel. She paints herself as a church-goer, and as an unmaterialistic saint. When Mr. Gryce admits to enjoying Bellomont, and the "ease and glitter of life", he also expresses concern that it is all too materialistic of a society, and he of course is overjoyed to hear that Miss Bart does not feel at home in that "ambiguous atmosphere" (Wharton, 41). He is a puppet in her show, a mere piece in her playing field, a pawn in her game. All people there in Bellomont seem to be not only under the influence of a superior rule of consumerism, but they are trapped as well into only moving and gesturing according to the "vast gorup of human automata", with no abililty to stretch outside of the furthest reach of one of their own (Wharton, 41). They are trapped in this dangerous self-indulging society and none seem to know how to remove themselves once they have been captured by the lotus flowers of Bellomont, even Lily Bart, who is seemingly the puppet master of their little show.
No comments:
Post a Comment