Edith Wharton
In this section of the novel, the setting, specifically the time, factors into the main theme: rejecting societal standards in favor of finding oneself. The time period (the early 1900s), the season (autumn), and the day (Sunday), all set the stage for Lily's realizing the main theme for herself.
In order to understand fully the societal pressures Lily fights, one must understand society in the early 1900s. I realize my blog is titled The Roaring 20s and this novel is set in the 00s, so, if you have any complaints, send them to my suggestion box.
Anyhow, American society in the early 1900s was headed by a small group of extremely wealthy families. Even though this status was not exclusively hereditary like the aristocracies of Europe, marriage was still used as a tool to maintain status. Like any Disney Princess, Lily gradually turns away from society's suggestion for a spouse (Gryce) and toward the person she wants (Selden).
More specifically, the story takes place in the autumn. Typically, autumn in poetry represents the last stages of life. In a way, that symbolism is used in the novel. As Lily starts to gravitate toward Selden who represents a modest life, the Lily who emphasized wealth slowly dies. The fall parallels Lily's shift from someone who only wants to appease her mother's wishes for regained status to someone who wants to live her life with someone she loves.
Even more specifically, these two chapters take place on Sunday, the Sabbath, the Lord's Day. Church. Although Lily promised Gryce that she would accompany him to mass, she said she had a headache and blew him off for Selden. Usually, when people make excuses for not going to mass, it is because of laziness; however, Lily avoided the conformity associated with the ritual of going to mass. Lily speculates that going to mass for nonreligious reasons suggests blind conformity by thinking, "They belonged to the vast group of human automata who go through life without neglecting to perform a single one of the gestures executed by the surrounding puppets" (Wharton, 41). Only when Lily refused to be one of the upper-class crowd did she get the chance to converse with Selden and learn that his opinion was the only one that could bother her because she really wants to marry him.
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