How Does Edith Wharton Use Literary Allusions In The House Of Mirth

One of the most common traits we see in many early American writers is the ability to utilize literary allusion in their writings; Edith Wharton is no exception to this. But what exactly is literary allusion? According to Dictionary.com a literary allusion is an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. Throughout Wharton’s novel, The House of Mirth we see this ability coming to life in the

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character of Lily Bart, the main protagonist. Lily, a young and beautiful, yet confused girl doesn’t know how to handle the many peer pressures she experiences throughout the duration of this book. But how does Wharton use literary allusion on her character? This, along with the name of the book are the things which will be discussed in this essay.

The first, and most obvious example of literary allusion in her book is the gilded age of the story.

As was stated above, Lily was a beautiful girl in appearance. Every man loved her and every woman was intimidated by her. However, looks can be deceiving. Sadly Lily was quite obsessed with herself and with money. At least two times we see her almost marry solely for money and social standing. This is an amazing representation of the Gilded Age. Which was a time of economic thrive. Many people became extremely rich. But just like Lily, the age was corrupted with the love of money. One last comparison between Lily and the Gilded Age is a positive one. It is that Lily does show some true desire to marry someone not based on money when Simon Rosedale, an extremely rich bachelor asks her to marry him, but she turns him down because she didn’t love him. Similarly the Gilded Age did have some truly noble people. People such as John D. Rockefeller who gave away millions of dollars to

charities.
The second most obvious usage of literary allusion in this novel are the ideas captured by the phrase "gilding the lily." One thing that many people in our world today are guilty of is being dissatisfied with the physical appearance God has given them. Lily had the same problem. Despite the fact that she was already the most beautiful girl in all of New York, she wasn’t satisfied, she always wanted to look better. The statement above gives a fantastic
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picture of this. When someone guilds a lily, they are trying to make one of the most beautiful flowers on planet earth more beautiful. This is exactly what Lily was trying to do, but unfortunately she got sucked up in her physical desires and as a result became corrupted by her love of physical appearances.
In regard to Wharton’s name choice, I believe that the name, The House of Mirth comes from Ecclesiastes 7:4 where it says, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” This is a great name for this book as it entirely encompasses the ideas presented in the book. Where the verse says that the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, it is saying that a wise man would rather be focusing on matters of deeper importance and more eternal relevance. Where as the fool would rather spend his time on things that appear as a joyful thing, yet in the end are empty. When Wharton named this book The House of Mirth I believe it was because her characters are the fools described in Ecclesiastes 7:4 who spend their time on trivial matters rather than on meaningful things.
So, in the end, it is clear to see that not only is Edith Wharton a great author, but she is also great at using literary allusions in her writings. We see this in the character of Lily Bart who Wharton used this gifting on so much. It is also obvious that she is great at choosing names for her many, many novels.