The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
I like the way Seldon confronts Lily about her concern of money. He presents the topic by a question, a question seemingly unrelated. Seldon asks Lily, "Success- what is success?" (Wharton, 54). She responds as I would think at this point when she responds, "to get as much as one can out of life." I assume she is talking about money, wealth, and luxury, and Seldon addresses her response by giving a counter definition- success to him is "personal freedom". He means freedom from "worries, money, povery, ease and anxiety, and from material accidents", giving a kind of "republic to the spirit" (Wharton, 54). She realizes that he is implying that she should find this air of republic in her own life, and she rejects the idea that she is to blame for her view of success because she "hasn't had a choice." This seems to me like another shallow moment for Lily, but she does admit to seeing into Seldon's view of success when she's around him, which makes me think that he is very good for Lily, and hopefully (in my personal opinion), they will get together in the end so she can forever rid herself of this selfish, wildly intoxicated view of love and marriage, and be with a person that draws out the best in her.
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