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Genderings to The House of Mirth and its themes
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The theme of money and how life revolves around it is presented in The House of Mirth. The main character Lily Bart has a life that completely revolves around the idea of money. This idea controls Lily Bart's love life, personal freedom, and financial status. Growing up her mother engraves into her brain that the only way of living was extravagantly. Mr. Bart was not able to keep up with her demand and the worry of financial crisis causes his death. Even then Mrs. Bart and Lily's life continue to be centered around getting Lily a wealthy husband. After Mrs. Bart's death Lily is faced with her burden alone. She trades her social services for food and lodging among the socialites. It was her job or role to keep husbands entertained. Lily then
has the luxury but compromises her freedom in the process. As Wharton writes "it was the price she had chosen to pay for three months of luxury" (Wharton 188). It seems that sacrifices are always taken when dealing with money. It is not only her but others amongst the wealthy have their role pertaining to money. The men's role is to make money on Wall Street to keep their wives happy. While its the wife's role to look pretty and keep their husbands in the upper scale of society. These couples married without love for the wealth and the popularity. These actions lead to an unhappy marriage and cheating. The single people were only for mere entertainment. Lily was only an object to admired and she knew it. However, her obligation to have a rich husband jeopardizes her chance at true love. Every one pays in some manner and are trapped just to live a luxurious life. Money has an effect in every single action every one did. It was always so they could live a life surrounded with a lot of money.
While Mama is talking to Walter, she asks him why he always talks about money. "Mama: Oh--So now it's life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life--now it's money. I guess the world really do change . . . Walter: No--it was always money, Mama. We just didn't know about it." Walter thinks that the world revolves around money. He wants to believe that if his family were rich they would have perfect lives. This isn't true though, and Mama knows it. She knows that no matter how much money Walter has, he will never be happy unless he has a family that loves him. Before Walter goes out to invest in the liquor store he has a talk with his son. "Walter: You wouldn't understand yet, son, but your daddy's gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that's going to change our lives. . . ." Walter thinks that this transaction will make their lives better. What he doesn't realize is that he already has a good life and he doesn't need more money to make him happy. He should be grateful for what he has instead of worrying about money.
Inherited money is held in much higher esteem than earned money in Savannah, Georgia. This is a theme seen throughout Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt's non-fictional account of life in Savannah. Characters such as Jim Williams, who worked for their money and brought themselves up the social ladder, are seen as being beneath those who inherited their money, such as Lee Adler. The old wealth tend to look down on anyone who wasn't born with their money. Their views of just about everything, including laws and punishments, differ depending on whether the person in question is of wealth due to blood or sweat.
Lily’s actions are completely driven by her desire to fit into the upper class part of society and her need to have money to successfully do this. The actions she partakes in to achieve these goals are sometimes harshly judged by other characters, but The House of Mirth seems to almost draw sympathy for Lily from the fact that she is stuck in this role she cannot remove herself from. Even through showing other life paths like Gerty Farish’s, Lily’s options for an independent life where she can live the way she desires are limited. What she was taught as a child, the choices she makes because of her childhood, how being poor is viewed by society, and the unjust view of Lily’s actions are what ultimately both destroys Lily and results in her being shown sympathy.
He has an idea to be rich, and he wants it fast. Being nine year old, he starts out looking for jobs in his neighborhood. After doing two jobs, he earns a nickel, a quarter and two peaches. He has money, and he can do whatever he wants. So with a friend and his sister, they go swimming. Money, to him at this age, affects him greatly already. From his own family, he learns that without money, they'll always be poor and working class. He has the need to be higher in social class and he wants to be like rich people.
The world in which Lily grows up in is one where money is the standard by which everyone is judged. In a setting like this, “money stands for all kinds of things- its purchasing quality isn’t limited to diamonds and motor cars” (Wharton 66). Therefore, even small things such as the way a person dresses or the places someone frequents become of high importance as they are representative of how much money a person possesses. This materialistic tendency ...
At the beginning of this story the family did not have enough money to support their opulent lifestyle. Mr. Lawrence illustrates their situation like this: "Although they lived in style they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money." (p. 159) The family scrambles to pay the bills at the end of the month. An unspoken phrase "Whispered" throughout the house, "There must be more money! There must be more money!" (p.160) the whispering said. Even though the family had money, they wanted, they needed, more.
Lily Bart and her mother have been socially "ruined" in a sense because of the economic failures of their father and husband respectfully. However, Lily's mother teaches her that she can still maintain a high social status if she marries well, i.e. a rich man. In fact, Lily's mother is known for making the most out of the least as she is "famous for the unlimited effect she produced on limited means" (Wharton 48). In a society where women are considered valuable only for the appearance they present, it is impossible f...
In the “Rocking-Horse Winner,” D.H. Lawrence wrote about the house and the people inside as if they represents society. The events and characters in the story demonstrates when people in life that are obsessed with money will have the wrong values in life. The obsessiveness will often lead people results in tragedy. The author is trying to tell us there ae more to life than just materialist things like money. No one in this world isn’t in need of money. We work our entire life to get income for our satisfying needs. Ones can differ from other. One will work hard for money to satisfy just their needs, while others would go above and beyond to reach their dream homes or dream cars. And those are different types of obsessiveness. Meanwhile, in my family it’s the total opposite. We value hard work and education
Believe it or not money is a big thing in a couples relationship. One of the themes in the play, A Doll’s House, was about money. In the play, money had a lot to do with the breaking of a relationship. The relationship was between Nora and Torvald a married couple. Their was a big thing that had to do with money that I will be discussing later in this essay.
The love of money is the root of all evil, a statement that has proved itself true through the centuries. Loving money traps us, as human beings. It is not a bad thing to enjoy what money can do; however, the love of money is a wasted effort that can put all in grave peril. It is at our advantage that we have the ability to choose whether we ‘want’ to fall into that trap. Unfortunately, that choice is difficult since society associates one’s character with wealth and financial management. The mishaps, deaths, and hardships that occur from the beginning of the tale are the result of deliberate deception for personal gain. In Treasure Island, greed sends the characters on a voyage. Robert Louis Stevenson makes a social commentary on the role that money has come to play in our society.
In "The Rocking Horse Winner" D. H. Lawrence tells us about the traumatic downfall of an upper middle class family struggling to maintain appearances through habitual overspending. Both the parents with common jobs and "expensive tastes" (pg.646) exploit all their resources to give their family the best; however, it was only to retain their high status in the society. "The Rocking Horse Winner" depicts a common demon we all face; greed, society's need for more possessions and money often drives people to do drastic things.The magnificently decorated house had always been haunted by the unspoken phrase, "there must be more money" (pg.646). "Nobody said it aloud. Just as no one says: We are breathing! In spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time." (pg.647) "They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shinning modern rocking-horse, behind the smart dolls house, a voice would start whispering: There must be more money!"(pg.646).The house cried with pain as it pitie...
From dreams deferred to identity affirmed Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” presents readers with many differing themes. The most prevalent and reoccurring theme is the effect money plays on society’s views of manhood and happiness. Readers are shown multiple characters with a diverse view on manhood. From Walter Lee with his matching societal views that a man should be able to provide whatever his family needs or wants to Lena whose views are a biased compilation of her late husband’s behavior and her own ideals, that a man should maintain his honor and protect his children’s dreams.
According from the film, lesson Number four “Many people think that happiness comes from having more power or more money.” For example, Edward is a businessman in China who always felt happier by having a lot of money. He always uses his money on any situations he wants, and people treat him like a boss. That’s why when Hector asks Edward, “What is your happiness?” Edward said, “Money is my happiness.” It shows money is a part of life and a part of the happiness. It can buy anything you want, and it also can help you easily becomes VIP in restaurants or clubs. That’s why people want to work hard become rich. Although they are getting old, they don’t want to retire and fear any loss of money. That makes Hector writes down, “A lot of people think happiness means being richer or more important.” This statement points out what happens to the society right now. And Hector also feels it. It reflects the overuse of people with money. Further, everyone thinks money can make us feel happy and we can buy the happiness. However, does money really true to buy the happiness? That’s why the movie shows us money is important, but it is not everything. The movie tries to explain it, but it also said that without money you couldn’t be
The author shows that money can change a characters behavior. You see this behavioral change in Claire by the way she dresses and acts as she is above everyone. In the beginning
Mrs. Linde, on the other hand, knows what it is like to not have money to spare. She values money, but for an entire different purpose. The looks at it for what it is worth, and how it can help her survive. Her entire life she has had to work hard for anything that she wanted or needed. “Well, anyway,” she responded to Nora’s remark on having stacks of money, “it would be lovely enough to have enough for necessities” (703). To survive, she “had to scrape up living with a little shop and a little teaching and whatever else [she] could find” (704).