The House of Mirth: Book 2, Chapters 7 and 8

In chapters seven and eight of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, a recurring theme throughout the novel is once again brought to the surface. This theme happens to be about freedom and slavery. Lily has always craved freedom ever since she was a young, even at one point envying the lifestyle of her dear friend Gerty Farish because she could do as she pleased, and arrange her furniture as she liked. However, Lily has always felt as though she is a slave or servant to the society she lives in. Throughout the book, Lily is manipulated, tossed around, and beaten into the ground by the hierarchy of the wealthy society, and cannot get away from the feeling of enslavement and submission. Furthermore, although she had wished to marry in order to avoid her money problems, she dreaded the increased sense of duty that would come with marriage, something which I believe involuntarily prevented her from getting married. Even as she considers an engagement to Simon Rosedale to get out of the poverty she has fallen into, she hesitates and stumbles when those words of servitude sneak their way back into her head, especially in her description of Rosedale as “florid and dominant,” (Wharton, 202). She realizes yet again that the dominant characteristic is holding her off, as she does not want to be dominated by anyone. She yearns for freedom, and unfortunately she knows it is possible “since her walk with Selden had represented and irresistible flight…” (Wharton, 205). That flight, the liberty she wants to feel, holds her back from any confinement. Even in the desperate situation her lack of money left her in, I believe it is in these chapters that Lily realizes her sense of freedom is not worth the jewels, glitz, and glam offered by a wealthy husband.