Edith Wharton
In this section of The House of Mirth (I'm still trying to see how one can find mirth in reading this novel...), Wharton relies heavily on two literary devices: paradoxes and irony.
Let's begin with the paradoxes, and if you don't want to, too bad; it's my blog. Anyhow, specifically, Wharton utilizes paradoxes to highlight the rather absurd nature of the upper class which Lily is finally coming to accept. When explaining her seemingly controversial involvement in the Dorset debacle (I'm on a roll), Lily observes, "What is truth? Where a woman is concerned, it's the story that's easiest to believe" (Wharton, 182). Even though Lily is blameless in the Dorset scandal, she cannot help the fact that every rich woman in the circle believes her to be guilty. Since everyone has already heard rumors of Lily's promiscuity, they have come to expect her to ruin a marriage. What's more, Lily can do nothing to ameliorate the situation because doing so would make her appear culpable to the her friends who value composure above all. However, the reader enjoys the luxury of knowing the truth of Lily's innocence in all questionable situations, so the absurdity of the truth of Lily's words provide an insight into the society thus described. Among rich people, Lily and the reader both find that what should be important (truth, love, individuality) is often trumped by trivial assets (interest, financial security, conformity). For once, Lily considers what modest and wealthy lives both have to offer side-by-side and rejects the wealthy offer.
Now for irony. The first item on the list: the unexpected death of Mrs. Peniston.
We all do, Professor.
Her death seems to suggest that wealth and financial security are fleeting and unreliable, but the irony following her death offers more tantalizing importance. Since Lily lived with Mrs. Peniston for years, everyone expected Lily to receive the majority of the $400,000. Nope. Lily received only $10,000 while Grace Stepney was the primary beneficiary of the will. But wait! There's more! At first glance, this seems like a devastating blow from beyond the grave, but Lily now has every opportunity to free herself from obligation to the class she just bashed. Trenor can be paid off with $9,000 and she no longer has to be dependent on Mrs. Peniston's fortune. She has the means to reinvent herself, but somehow I doubt she will realize it immediately.
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