As the House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is slowly coming to the ending, we see that Lily has fallen almost completely off the ladder of high society. Almost completely broke, with her inheritance money soon to be used to pay off her debt to Gus Trenor, life is not looking up anymore for our poor protagonist.
Furthermore, when she confronts
Rosedale, and brings up his previous marriage proposal, he denies it. He isn’t stupid
and knows that Lily only needs him now because of the ongoing circumstances
between Lily and Bertha. But he does say that he would be willing to take Lily
back if she cleared her name and settled things with Bertha using the letters. More specifically, it is written: "he would marry her tomorrow if she could regain Bertha Dorset's friendship" (Wharton 209). Which brings me to a good point: the letters have now come back into the novel,
as a weapon to be used to get back at Bertha, but for now, Lily has not succumbed to their power. She loves Seldon too much to let his reputation be tainted by those letters.
However, come autumn, Lily is intent on changing things for herself. She and Carry Fisher begin a job search, while Gerty Farish-concerned as ever for her friend-is trying to get Seldon to help out Lily. Maybe as the book nears its end, Lily will finally accept who her real friends are and where her life is at this point, and stop giving in to the pressures of materialism. Not everyone in life gets to come out the victor, sometimes we lose.
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