House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton (first published in 1905)

Characters

Lily Bart Mrs. Peniston – aunt Grace Stepney – cousin of Mrs. Peniston, told her about Lily and Gus Tenor – inherited bulk of estate Lawrence Seldon Gerty Farish – cousin Percy Gryce Judy and Gus Tenor Bertha and George Dorset Ned Silverton – affair with Bertha Rosedale Norma Hatch – Lily took job as “secretary” to help guide her socially Freddy Van Osburgh – young – almost married Mrs. Hatch Other characters: Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Bry – hosted party where Lily was is a tableau Mrs. Haffen – sold Lily compromising letters from Bertha Dorset to Seldon Nettie Struther – helped by Lily at Girls’ Home, took Lily to her home at end of novel

 For discussion:

 

1. How is this book different from more modern novels?   What about this novel did you like more or less than the usual books you read?
1. Why is this novel considered a classic?
2. Were you surprised with the stereotypes used to describe Rosedale?  Would that happen today?
3. Compare Lily and Gerty’s lives.  Do you think one was more happy or satisfying than the other?  Why?
4. Discuss Lily and Gerty’s friendship.    At one point Lily said that “friends say disagreeable things others would not say.”   Does this define their friendship?  Do you agree with this statement?
5. Discuss Lily’s relationships with Seldon, Tenor, Dorset and Rosedale.  Would you have advised her to handle things any differently? 
6. Was Lily capable of doing anything different with her life or was she a victim of her upbringing?  At one point she reflected that she “had been brought up to be ornamental, not to serve any practical purpose.”
7. What did you think about Mrs. Peniston cutting Lily out of her will?  Why did she do that?  Can you understand Mrs. Peniston thinking?
8. How did Lily change or not change over the course of the novel?

• Compare conversation with Rosedale at the beginning of the novel to the conversation in the tea shop at the end.
• She declined to move in with Gerty when offered because she did not want to be dependent on others.
• The satisfaction that she got from helping Nettie.

 

Vocabulary Quiz
Word	Definition
______…to escape from the threatened vacuity of the afternoon….   ______…cuirassed in shining black…   ______It was from her that he inherited his detachment from the sumptuary side of life…   ______….he still felt himself agrope…   ______Her worldly wisdom would have counseled her against such as act of abnegation…   _____ But brilliant young ladies, a little blinded by their own effulgence …   ______Mrs. Tenor’s complaints of Carry Fisher’s rapacity…	a. renouncement or relinquishment   b. covetous   c. emptiness   d. radiant splendor, brilliance   e. like a piece of armor covering body neck to waist   f. the act of groping   g. designed to regulate extravagant expenditures or habits

 

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Answers:  c, e, g, f, a, d, b