Commonly called "a novel of manners" because of the way the characters are shown thinking and talking about how people in society should behave, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton focuses primarily on Lily Bart, a woman whose social decline and fall are read primarily as a criticism of the ways and customs of New York's upper class in the early 20th century. Lacking personal resources, not entirely respectable, and well past the age when women of her era were considered marriage material, Lily Bart nevertheless enjoys both celebrity and a luxurious lifestyle until her inability to adapting to social expectations pushes her further and further down. up the social ladder to the point of dying in poverty. Many critics describe Lily's decline and fall as inevitable, yet the text contains clear evidence that it is not. Most of the evidence is concentrated in the character of Mrs. Carry Fisher, a character who in many ways is an obstacle to Lily. Despite disadvantages far more severe than the heroine's, Carry thrives while Lily self-destructs. This disparity refutes the popular notion that Lily Bart is a helpless creature who has no options other than to make the choices she does. This essay will show how Carry Fisher is exactly what Lily imagines herself to be, but isn't: a woman who survives and thrives because she knows how to be exactly what the occasion demands. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The House of Mirth was set in the early 1900s and published in 1905, when women couldn't yet vote. Although women could own property in their own right, most money and property was controlled by men. Both Lily and Carry have a similar problem: they lack a male provider and have very few personal resources. But their problems exist for different reasons, and the two women deal with them in radically different ways. While Lily ignores problems, relying on her good looks and her ability to lie and manipulate her way out of unpleasant situations (1), Carry prefers to face reality. She states that "half the trouble in life is caused by pretending there isn't any" (2), recognizes that she lives in a world where most people have to earn a living, and understands that her very survival depends on her . usefulness to others. The fact that it is willing to embrace the transactional aspect of the company is one of the reasons it survives. Lily and Carry are upper class members of New York society at the height of the Gilded Age. They are surrounded by both material wealth and an atmosphere of social and economic upheaval. The conservative element of upper-class society, as exemplified by Percy Gryce, Julia Peniston and Grace Stepney, struggles to maintain its increasingly tenuous grip on social privilege. Despising ostentatious displays of wealth and willing to spend money but reluctant to waste it, conservative members of the upper crust are the final arbiters of what is and is not appropriate behavior (3). Yet their hegemony is threatened by the fashionable faction, many of whom are relatively new to their wealth and inclined to flaunt it. The Trenors, the Dorsets, and the various parasites who attend their parties and adorn their drawing rooms are fond of conspicuous consumption. They compete to see who has the biggest opera stage, the biggest yacht, and the most scandalous house parties (4). In this refined and fashionable environment, attention is a form of currency, many conventional social norms are outdated and hospitality is oneSpectator sports complete with news coverage. Although neither Lily nor Carry are independently wealthy or even financially independent, they begin the novel moving mostly in the fashionable circles of society. While Lily's participation occurs out of personal inclination, Carry participates out of necessity. Lily is an orphan whose parents have lost nearly all of the family's children's money due to years of living beyond their means. She grew up in an environment where conspicuous consumption was normal, where she was not taught the value of a dollar, and where it was considered acceptable not to pay bills or servants' wages on time. The resulting domestic instability and arguments between her domineering, spendthrift mother and her meek but hard-working father were something she considered normal. The bankruptcy and death of her father occurred after Lily (5) came out, when she was nineteen and an adult according to the customs of the time. Although she still has a small amount of invested capital (6), the resulting interest is not enough to allow her to live independently even if she were to do as her “seedy” cousin Grace Stepney did and rent a room in a boarding house. . But Lily is supported financially by her aunt Julia Peniston, whom she despises for her frugality and lack of frivolity (7). Lily has a bedroom in the Peniston house on Fifth Avenue, is fed and clothed at her aunt's expense, and all her ordinary expenses are paid for through irregular but generous gifts of cash from her aunt (8). This is why she can afford to dress beautifully, attend elegant parties and be critical of those who don't. Lily's contempt also extends to her aunt, without whom she would be destitute. Although Lily expects to inherit enough from Aunt Julia to live comfortably, she spends the first half of the novel intermittently trying to attract a wealthy husband and avoid negative consequences for living beyond her means. Despite her reflections with Lawrence Selden on the failures of society (9), and despite her acknowledged desire for wealth (10), Lily cannot fully accept that she is part of a transactional society and not a person with intrinsic value who it is admired and appreciated simply because it exists. She resents any suggestion that she help others in exchange for hospitality or gifts she receives (11), and cannot understand why people she treats badly by failing to keep her commitment do not continue to have a positive opinion of her (12 ), and she believes she can claim the privileges of adulthood while being spoiled as a dependent child if she maintains willful ignorance (13) of even the most basic aspects of the deal she is making. In short, Lily's perspective is that of a petulant, spoiled child. Having survived two divorces, Carry Fisher has no significant personal wealth. She receives a small amount of alimony from her second husband and owns what is described as a "tiny" house near fashionable Fifth Avenue but not actually on it (14). At the beginning of the novel it is often referenced how Carry needs every dollar (15), but the reason is not revealed until the second book: Carry has a young daughter that she must support. It is unclear who exactly the girl's father is, however she must have been born before the events of The House Of Mirth because Carry is constantly visible throughout the first part of the book, without any reference to an ongoing pregnancy. Unlike Lily, Carry does not have a rich aunt to support her. She earns her living by working as a sort of social secretary for the nouveau riche. It introduces newly rich people to high society and helps them learn todine, dress and entertain according to the standards of the time (16). For this, she charges fees considerable enough to afford her the occasional luxury (17). Sometimes it acts as a sort of employment agency, making domestic employees such as cooks or casual workers such as musicians or decorators available to its wealthier peers (18). Yet this type of income is not constant. She sometimes borrows from the book's male characters, or tricks them into stock market speculation on her behalf, and while there is never any suggestion that Carry fails to repay the borrowed money, there are veiled hints that she might be trading for romantic attention (if not even sexual favors) in exchange for money. But most of his wealth in the second half of the book comes from commissions, fees, stock tips, and other income related to helping new millionaires integrate with the social elite (19). As a sophisticated investor and businesswoman, Carry therefore attends fancy parties for business purposes. She knows that others gossip about her and complain about her presence: hostesses like Judy Trenor expect their guests to cause a bit of a stir, and Judy in particular wants Carry to appease and distract her "boring" husband whose work and investment decisions make the difference. party possible. (20)From the point of view of the conservative set, both Lily and Carry are damaged goods. There are reasons why the attractive Lily has reached the relatively advanced age of twenty-nine (21) without having been married. Even though her parents' financial problems weren't her fault, Lily has made her share of scandalous mistakes. At the age of about twenty, while living in Europe out of reach of her mother's creditors, Giglio was engaged to the Italian prince Varigliano. But while the property contract was being drawn up that would provide for Lily and her family in the event of her husband's death, the Prince's handsome stepson appeared on the scene. Lily began a reckless public flirtation with him and he broke off the engagement (22). In the late 1890s the breaking of an engagement was not as scandalous as a divorce, yet since then Lily has sabotaged one romantic liaison after another. This, together with his basic dishonesty, his adoption of the habits and mores of the fashionable environment, and his habit of treating people very badly unless he wants something from them, has caused him to be "talked" about Lily (23) in a way. this is not appreciated by his conservative relatives. While among her fashionable friends, Lily smokes cigarettes, plays cards for money, and even borrows money from Ned Van Alstyne, her elderly second cousin. For an unmarried woman of the early 1900s these are not respectable activities. However, while Lily's fashionable colleagues have enough money to protect them from otherwise predictable consequences, Lily does not. From the hip group's perspective, Lily and Carry are valuable but for different reasons. Although in previous years Lily enjoyed being a professional host due to her charming personality and good looks, by the beginning of the novel her charm is fading. It is no longer a novelty and every year it receives fewer and fewer invitations. People are no longer willing to entertain her solely for the pleasure of her company. (24) Her aunt expects her to help supervise the fall cleanup, her hostesses like Judy Trenor expect her to sit at the bridge table and help her write address cards (25), and she's disgusted upon discovering that she is now expected to find a way to contribute to the society in which she lives. If she were married, with access to a dining room and living room of her own, she could easily have returned the hospitalitysimply throwing a party and inviting everyone who had entertained her in the past (26). However, as Julia's ward, Lily has no hospitality to offer (27) and therefore cannot participate in society as an adult. Carry offers hospitality to others, yet in the first part of the novel it is of the low-budget variety: Lily generally regards Carry's “little, crowded house” as beneath her (28). But Carry's main contribution to other people's parties is as a social lubricant. He makes a living by helping newly wealthy people like Simon Rosedale, the Brys, and the Gormers start their families and make their way onto the social scene (29). Carry first serves its customers by integrating them into the hip part of society that is most accepting of newcomers. Once it establishes them in the trendy context, it helps them expand their influence to include the conservative set as well. In the process, it helps provide both hip and conservative groups in society with the entertainment and novelty they need. As physically attractive women, Lily and Carry both receive a lot of male attention, but they use it differently. Lily has very advanced social skills and is able to make another person feel as if Lily really likes them, trusts them, and is willing to reveal their innermost secrets. This can be endearing, especially to men, but Lily uses her power of charm primarily to entertain herself. She makes erratic attempts to snare a wealthy husband and manipulates Gus into pretending to speculate on her behalf in exchange for romantic attention. But as soon as she gets what she wants from people, Lily treats them like something she'd scrape off the bottom of her shoe. The way she repeatedly antagonizes Percy Gryce once she is prematurely sure of his affection for her (30), the callous way she treats Gus Trenor (31), and the way she socially snubs the Brys when she no longer needs their hospitality or support ( 32) are examples. Furthermore, Lily has no problem showing her contempt towards people she believes she doesn't need, such as Mrs. Haffen (33) or her poor cousin Grace Stepney (34). The fact that the people Lily uses and discards generally notice is proof that Lily is not as cunning a manipulator as she thinks she is: a master manipulator is never caught or even suspected. In contrast, Carry flirts and acts like the embodiment of “a spicy paragraph” (35). Although he occasionally uses people, especially men, he never deceives them. She is described as frank, freely acknowledging the source of her money (36) and admitting when she is wrong (37) rather than trying to lie to solve a problem or assign blame to other people as Lily does after the Percy Gryce fiasco. She never tries to present herself as something she is not, as when Lily tries to pass herself off as an innocent child in the woods at the beginning of her courtship of Percy (36). The people Carry uses invariably benefit enough from their association with her to want to continue their friendship. Carry is also a loyal friend who does not abandon Gus Trenor, Lily Bart, or Simon Rosedale after getting back on solid financial footing. Although Lily considers herself a skilled reader of people, she is not. She completely misjudges Simon Rosedale (37) and believes she can flirt with Gus Trenor to get financial help from him, but ignores him when he comes looking for a refund. He ignores the fact that his poorer cousin Grace Stepney is a potential enemy because she has been replaced by Lily as Aunt Julia's (38) heir presumptive, and he fails to foresee Bertha Dorset's attack on Munich despite having already been the victim of one in Bellomont (39). She misinterprets the beginning of Percy Gryce's interest in heras evidence of an attraction strong enough to describe to others as a de facto engagement (40). She fails to recognize Bertha Dorset's motives (41), and fails to recognize when she is about to lose her Aunt Julia's favor, along with her only financial support, as a direct result of her increasingly scandalous behavior (42). Unlike Lily, Transport is extremely insightful. She is cultured and very educated for a woman of her time. In addition to drawing analogies to the natural sciences (43), Carry is said to have studied and adopted several causes over the years, including Christian Science, socialism, and municipal reform (44). She is also very careful in her interactions with others: she never talks about herself except for a specific purpose, and she pays close attention to how others think and react. She proves very astute, for example, in evaluating Louisa Bry's reasoning during their argument in Munich. It treats each person as an individual rather than as a representative of a class or group, and does not rely solely on superficial impressions or personal likes and dislikes when deciding whether to associate with someone. She is willing to give people the benefit of the doubt: in Carry's way of thinking, "it didn't matter who threw the party, as long as things were done well" (45). While Lily and her friends snub Simon Rosedale and describe him as socially "impossible" because he has difficulty understanding the unwritten rules of the upper class, Carry has no problem accepting Rosedale's hospitality in her opera box and inviting him to his house as a guest. when he has the means to do so (46). This, in many ways, places Carry as an obstacle for Lily, who persists in judging people based only on appearances despite having been trained not to do so (47). Carry then manages to deduce the real reason why Lily is aboard the Sabrina, recognize the danger to Lily, and explain it in the clearest terms possible to Lawrence (48), hoping that he will intercede because Lily tends to follow his advice. It is Carry who recognizes a tabloid reporter on the train who notes that Lily has been seen arriving at the yacht with George Dorset. When George catches his wife Bertha returning in the early hours of the morning with her lover, Lily is completely unaware of the danger she finds herself in. It is Carry who recognizes how critical the situation has become. He urges Lily to leave the yacht (49) and even offers Lily the opportunity to retire gracefully by taking on Carry's position with the Bry family, income and all. (50) Throughout the novel, Lily believes that she can seamlessly adapt to become “exactly what the occasion demands” (51). But his social skills are actually only effective as long as the situation calls for a social butterfly who can buy clothes and jewelry, cut hats, spend other people's money, and give instructions on how a party "should" be thrown. Although Simon Rosedale believes she would be an unrivaled hostess and social leader (52), and although she privately and publicly sneers at the mistakes of others compared to her ideals of physical and social perfection (53), Lily never shows off no skills of his own except in the tailoring field. She completely fails as a husband hunter, heiress, professional host, social secretary, philanthropist, and even a hatter's assistant. Lily's failure in the art of husband hunting is shown and mentioned throughout the book, but nowhere is it explained. it was more evident than during her ridiculous attempts to trap Percy Gryce, a conservative but wealthy man slightly younger than her. Pretending to be a shy, innocent young woman who has never touched tobacco or played bridge (54), Lily piles one lie upon another whileStrokes Gryce's ego in an attempt to make him fall in love with her. During the Trenor house party in Bellomont, Lily presents herself as a religious and conservative young woman, and goes so far as to convince her landlady's teenage daughters to get up and come to church with her. Although she creates a false image of herself as exactly the kind of woman Percy Gryce would want, she does not invest the necessary effort to keep the image alive. She spends so much time fantasizing about how boring it would be to marry Percy that the omnibus leaves for the church without her. In Lily's absence, Percy discovers that Lily never goes to church and that the teenage girls only agreed to accompany her this time out of friendship (55). Percy returns to find Lily in the company of Lawrence Selden, the former romantic property of a very vicious Bertha Dorset who is upset by what she interprets as Lily's interference. When Lily cancels her walk with Percy that afternoon, urging him to go on a driving expedition to the Van Osburgh home in a nearby town and thinking that time away might whet his appetite for her (56), Bertha is so enraged about how Lawrence stays behind to spend time with Lily and she gets revenge by making sure Percy hears every scandalous detail about Lily's past (57). Terrified, Percy flees, returning home by train the next morning. Lily spends the next few weeks distracted by a variety of things while, unbeknownst to her, Bertha sets Percy up with Evie Van Osburgh, the youngest and most conservative of the Van Osburgh heiresses. Evie is a perfect match for Percy in terms of character and personality. Although Lily believes she can have Percy back whenever she wants (58), he proposes to Evie instead (59). Lily fails as a celebrity femme fatale in part because she insists on also advertising herself as a “jeune fille? marier”, that is, a young marriageable girl (60). At the age of twenty-nine, Lily is well beyond adolescence and her background and conduct make her far from marriage material. She visits a single man's private apartment in broad daylight and appears in a tableau dressed in scant clothing and in a posture calculated to highlight her figure. Yet he doesn't embrace his slightly risqué attitude? image as Carry Fisher does. Carry succeeds socially partly because he doesn't go out of his way to shock people, and partly because he never tries to pass himself off as respectable. She is then free to do things like educate herself about business, learn money management, and promote her interests using any means available. Lily, who willingly studies topics that might be of interest to a future husband, turns up her nose when she acquires knowledge inconsistent with her naive self-image. Therefore you do not familiarize yourself with any aspect of financial or business management. This does not prevent her from deliberately initiating a commercial transaction for a fee with her best friend's husband (61). But because she's pretending to be an innocent little girl, Lily believes she doesn't have to keep her end of the unspoken agreement she made with Gus, and is very upset when he insists on what he's owed. Instead of spending time alone with him on a tour of Bellomont as Carry (62) does, in the relative privacy of the town, Lily ensures that she is only seen with him in public, which ultimately causes their names to be romantically linked by gossip (63). Meanwhile, anyone can see that Lily is spending a lot of money (64), so eventually news comes to the attention of Grace Stepney and Julia Peniston that Lily may be receiving money in exchange for the attention given to Gus. The gossips, in this particular case, are absolutely right. Thisfact, along with Lily's habit of gambling and borrowing money, disillusions Aunt Julia and damages Lily's relationship with her. Lily doesn't take advantage of the opportunities that come her way. The day after the Brys' winter party, Lily attends a dinner at Carry's house to learn that, while Lily has spent Gus's windfall mostly on clothes and trinkets (65), Carry has purchased real estate, adding another apartment to his little house. . She uses this space to earn some extra money by modeling and hosts informal meet-ups where she introduces various new artists, musicians, and other fun people to wealthy friends who want to be the first to discover something new (66). These evenings make Carry indispensable to the fun-hungry Gwen and Jack Stepney, creating a social bond that helps Carry avoid blame when Gwen's younger brother narrowly escapes a predatory marriage (67). Ignoring all opportunities to acquire real estate and other assets that could make her independent, Lily never develops even a reasonable cash reserve. Despite being surrounded by people, including women, who have no problem managing their own money or paying other people to do so, Lily never develops even the slightest interest in taking care of her own financial security. Another example of Lily's failure to take advantage of opportunities is how she despises Julia Peniston's company, avoiding her during fall cleaning and resenting her unwillingness to spend money on redecorating or entertaining. For Lily, nothing is worse than being willfully shabby, sloppy, or stingy. So instead of showing her aunt the slightest consideration, and instead of being aware of the people who could potentially take her place as Aunt Julia's favorite, Lily avoids her aunt's company, engaging in that kind of gambling, loans and scandalous behavior that his aunt knows. would despise. She gratuitously snubs poor middle-aged Grace Stepney, her aunt's former favorite, causing Grace to be disinvited from one of the occasional family dinners that were Grace's main social activity. Throughout the book, Lily's self-centeredness and sense of her own superiority are so intense that she doesn't really notice the people she hurts. Lily thinks that no matter how scandalous her behavior appears or how poorly she treats "sleazy" people, they will love her, forgive her, and find the most positive explanation possible for her conduct as dowdy philanthropist Gerty Farish does. When the people Lily offends get revenge, it's always a surprise. Until her aunt's will is read, she sincerely believes that she will inherit a significant amount of money while avoiding any form of reckoning or negative consequences for acts that brought shame to Aunt Julia and her family. (68) While Lily constantly changes her image in an attempt to be "exactly what the occasion demands", and failing miserably due to her incompetence or lack of attention to detail or accomplishment (69), Carry Fisher is the same person at all times. He never pretends to be anything other than what he is, and has a knack for looking at the big picture. At the beginning of the novel she is enjoying an adventure with young Ned Silverton, but when he shifts his attention to Bertha Dorset Carry she does not treat him badly. When things are going well for Carry, she doesn't snub the people who helped her when she was in trouble. Astute and pragmatic, Carry can indeed be a “battered string puller” (70), and is not shy about extracting maximum value from the people who can afford to pay for her social midwifery, but she also repays borrowed money or providessome kind of favor in kind. The fact that Judy Trenor, who is fully aware of her husband's financial dealings (71), is never as angry with Carry as she is with Lily despite the fact that both women use her husband financially, is not evidence that Carry has a special dispensation of some kind, but who has found a way to repay what he borrows in money or some other form of social currency. While Lily is quick to avoid unfashionable people and resents being teased for "her friends Wellington Brys" (72), Carry does not select her companions based on other people's opinions. She is also honest and sometimes more frank than others would like, but she is also one of the few people willing to interact with Lily during her fall from social grace. When he treats Lily badly in a restaurant because she is surrounded by other people whose support she needs, Carry regrets her part in the scene. He apologizes to Lily at the first possible opportunity (72) and offers her several ways in which she could earn a living (73). In fact, the only people who remain friendly with Lily towards the end of the book are those who choose their friends without regard to the opinions of others. Carry, Lawrence, Gerty and Simon are the only ones to do so. “I wish he would give me some of his discarded opportunities” (74), says Carry, when speaking to Lawrence about his beloved Lily. Unlike Lily, Carry rarely passes up an opportunity. Known for her social promiscuity and willingness to attend any good party, regardless of who hosts it, Carry has friends in the lower and rising classes (75), as well as among the elite. This is how she finds aspiring social climbers who hire her to help them enter high society. Therefore, bring, cultivate and socialize with people from different social classes. She is also not too proud to monetize the advantages she has. In this respect, Carry is the opposite of Lily. Over the course of the two books that make up the novel, Carry tries several times to offer Lily money-making opportunities. She introduces her clients to the Brys, first as a way for Lily to escape some of her problems during the Thanksgiving holidays after the wedding and then as an opportunity to take over Carry's duties and earn money by providing useful services. But once the holidays are over, Lily not only ignores the Brys while on holiday on the French Riviera, but helps Bertha Dorset sabotage Louisa Bry's long-awaited dinner with the Duchess of Beltshire. He does this not out of a sense of enmity towards Louisa, but simply for fun (76). When Carry and the Brys part ways and the field is clear for Lily, Lily makes some of the appropriate mouth sounds to Louisa but immediately loses her ability to provide social advancement: she loses her place on the Dorsets' yacht and suddenly needs help . help yourself. Rather than attach herself to the Brys or get to New York as quickly as possible to ensure her side of the story is heard first, Lily quietly makes her way back to London via Paris, arriving in New York at least four weeks later. the incident (77) and possibly longer depending on whether the news came from the travelers themselves after a journey of several days, or instantly via transatlantic cable. So, despite impressing Louisa Bry well enough to convince her to fire Carry, Lily doesn't capitalize on her gain and takes Carry's place as Louisa's social secretary. Louisa Bry recognizes her mistake almost immediately and keeps Carry again. As a result, while Lily languishes in a hotel in New York, Carry can afford to rent a house in Tuxedo for the autumn months. Carry is careful to understand who her friends and enemies are, and is careful to never let her enemies come in