Naturalism in The House of Mirth
Challenging the strict deterministic confines of literary naturalism, which hold that "the human being is merely one phenomenon in a universe of material phenomena" (Gerard 418), Edith Wharton creates in The House of Mirth a novel which irrefutably presents the human creature as being subject to a naturalistic fate but which conveys a looming sense of hope that one may triumph over environment and circumstance if one possesses a certain strength of will or a simple faith in human possibility.
Because of Wharton's slight deviation from naturalistic conventions, a literary debate exists among critics as to the validity of viewing The House of Mirth as a novel which embodies naturalism. Some arguments contend that naturalism does not play a vital role in the novel because of the fact that such a significant internal conflict belies itself within the divided being of Lily Bart and because Wharton focuses so intensely on this conflict, a discord which seems opposed to the naturalistic idea of inevitability (Gerard, 4 1 0). Indeed, Wharton's works are not as critically concerned with naturalistic themes as are the works of London, Drieser, or Zola.
However, it is clear that undertones of naturalism, and stronger overtones in many situations, are present throughout The House of Mirth. Wharton creates characters who are victims of their environment, controlled by animal-like instinct. Evidence of this is found from the very first page, when Lawrence Selden succumbs to an "impulse of curiosity" (6), to the very last page, when Selden realizes that Lily had "reached out to him in every struggle against the influence of her surroundings (255-56). By creating a protagon...
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...sting that the human creature also gains strength and derives meaning from its hope, desire, and faith, thus engendering the triumph of the human spirit.
Works Cited
Benstock, Shari. Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth. Complete, Authoritative Text with Biog. & Hist. Contexts, Crit. Hist., & Essays from Five Contemp. Crit. Perspectives. New York: St. Martin's, 1993.
Gerard, Bonnie Lynn. "From Tea to Chloral: Raising the Dead Lily Bart." Twentieth Century Literature 44.4 (1998): 409-27.
Orr, Elaine N. "Contractual Law, Relational Whisper: A Reading of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth." Modern Language Quarterly: A Journal of Literary History 52.1 (1991): 53-70.
Pizer, Donald. "The Naturalism of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth." Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal 41.2 (1995): 241-48.
In the controversial court case, McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall’s verdict gave Congress the implied powers to carry out any laws they deemed to be “necessary and proper” to the state of the Union. In this 1819 court case, the state of Maryland tried to sue James McCulloch, a cashier at the Second Bank of the United States, for opening a branch in Baltimore. McCulloch refused to pay the tax and therefore the issue was brought before the courts; the decision would therefore change the way Americans viewed the Constitution to this day.
Abrams, M. H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York; W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
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Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth presents an interesting study of the social construction of subjectivity. The Victorian society which Wharton's characters inhabit is defined by a rigid structure of morals and manners in which one's identity is determined by apparent conformity with or transgression of social norms. What is conspicuous about this brand of social identification is its decidedly linguistic nature. In this context, behaviors themselves are rendered as text, and the incessant social appraisal in which the characters of the novel participate is a process of deciphering this script of behavior. People's actions here are read, as it were, according to the unique social grammar of this society. The novel's treatment of this conception of social reading is brought to the fore through its devaluing of written texts in favor of legible behaviors.
The life of every American citizen, whether they realize it or not, is influenced by one entity--the United States Supreme Court. This part of government ensures that the freedoms of the American people are protected by checking the laws that are passed by Congress and the actions taken by the President. While the judicial branch may have developed later than its counterparts, many of the powers the Supreme Court exercises required years of deliberation to perfect. In the early years of the Supreme Court, one man’s judgement influenced the powers of the court systems for years to come. John Marshall was the chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, and as the only lasting Federalist influence in a newly Democratic-Republican government, he and his fellow justices sought to perpetuate their Federalist principles in the United States’ court system. In one of the most memorable court cases of all time--the case of Marbury v. Madison-- Marshall established the idea of judicial review and strengthened the power of the judicial branch in the government. Abiding by his Federalist ideals, Marshall decided cases that would explicitly limit the power of the state government and broaden the strengths of the national government. Lastly, the Marshall Court was infamous for determining the results of cases that dealt with the interpretation of the Constitution and the importance of contracts in American society. The Marshall Court, over the span of a mere three decades, managed to influence the life of every American citizen even to this day by impacting the development of the judicial branch, establishing a boundary between the state and national government, and making declarations on the sanctity of contracts ("The Marshall Court"...
Wharton, Edith, and Edith Wharton. Ethan Frome ; & Summer. New York: Modern Library, 2001. Print.
Conflicts within relationships are inevitable and some conflict can help strengthen a relationship; however, in marriages and families, many people fail to work through their conflict, which results in unhealthy patterns of behavior. Over time, if left unresolved, these patterns of behavior can lead to a breaking of the relationship. Furthermore, most people do not set out seeking conflict within relationships, but rather they lack the emotional maturity to move through conflict. In fact, it is not the differences between the two parties that create the conflict, but rather the emotional reaction to their differences. Therefore, an intervention is required to begin the healing process of working through conflict. Often a pastor or counselor
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” – Mark Twain.
Edward Koch, who was former mayor of New York, wrote an article about one of the most controversial talks called the death penalty. This controversial topic questions if it is right to execute a person for a crime committed or if it is wrong. He made the point that the death penalty is good, in order to conclude that murderers should be punish with this penalty. He was bias in most of the passage, yet he tried to acknowledge other people’s opinion. In this article, Koch gives his supports to the idea to convict a murderer with death penalty by using a tone of objectiveness, shooting for the individuals who opposes his position to be the audience, and have a written form of conviction for the audience.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
The title of Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth waxes poetic irony in the case of the old money society of turn-of-the-century New York. The individual as part of the collective of society which seeks to oppress individuality is representative of the "house" in the novel's title. To remain ignorant and play by the "rules," therein lies the "mirth." Clearly, the victimization of the story's heroine, Lily Bart, by the elite social "set" she associates herself with illustrates Wharton's disdain for the rigidity of this society against the individual. Lily is, at first, an example of the collective society she is a product of; however, as she finds herself being victimized for embracing individuality, a metamorphosis of her character takes place through an internal struggle over the faults of her external world, leading to her discovery of the truth and the loss of her innocence.
The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ninth Edition. Stephen Greenblatt, eds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 2308. Print.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition Volume1. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton and Company, Inc., 1993.
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.
In the story The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by Shakespeare Hamlets father is killed for some unknown reason. Hamlet wanted to find out who would do such a thing. In the play there were many tragedies that occurred thought-out the play. All these tragedies occur because Hamlet decides to wait until he gets his revenge. There was a single event that caused more tragedies to occur as we progress thought the play.