The House of Mirth
Essential Life Skills You'll Learn
Critical Thinking Through Literature
Develop analytical skills by examining the complex themes and character motivations in The House of Mirth, learning to question assumptions and see multiple perspectives.
Historical Context Understanding
Learn to place events and ideas within their historical context, understanding how The House of Mirth reflects and responds to the issues of its time.
Empathy and Perspective-Taking
Build empathy by experiencing life through the eyes of characters from different times, backgrounds, and circumstances in The House of Mirth.
Recognizing Timeless Human Nature
Understand that human nature remains constant across centuries, as The House of Mirth reveals patterns of behavior and motivation that persist today.
Articulating Complex Ideas
Improve your ability to express nuanced thoughts and feelings by engaging with the sophisticated language and themes in The House of Mirth.
Moral Reasoning and Ethics
Develop your ethical reasoning by grappling with the moral dilemmas and philosophical questions raised throughout The House of Mirth.
These skills are woven throughout the analysis, helping you see how classic literature provides practical guidance for navigating today's complex world.
Themes in This Book
Click a theme to find more books with similar topics
The House of Mirth traces Lily Bart's tragic decline through Gilded Age New York society. Beautiful, charming, and broke, Lily has been trained for only one career: marrying rich. But she keeps sabotaging herself, unable to fully commit to the cynical game. Edith Wharton's devastating masterpiece explores what happens when a woman's only value is her marriageability—and that value has an expiration date.
Meet Your Guide
Marcus, 29
luxury real estate agent, dwindling inheritance at high-end Manhattan real estate
old money family lost everything, unmarried, running out of options
Throughout this guide, you'll follow Marcus's story as they navigate situations that mirror the classic. trained only for a leisured life she can no longer afford, too proud to adapt
Table of Contents
A Chance Encounter at Grand Central
Lily Bart, a beautiful but financially precarious woman of 29, encounters Lawrence Selden at Grand C...
Strategic Mistakes and Calculated Charm
Lily realizes she's made a costly error with Rosedale—her clumsy lie about the dressmaker has given ...
The Cost of Playing the Game
Lily faces the brutal mathematics of her situation after losing $300 at cards—money she desperately ...
The Price of Playing the Game
Lily wakes to a summons from her hostess Mrs. Trenor to help with secretarial work—the kind of unpai...
The Price of Performance
Lily Bart faces a moment of truth about the life she's choosing. She plans to attend church with Per...
The Republic of the Spirit
Lily and Selden escape together for an afternoon walk, leaving behind the social obligations that us...
The Price of Financial Desperation
Lily faces the harsh reality of her financial situation after losing Percy Gryce as a potential husb...
The Price of Easy Money
Lily receives her first thousand-dollar check from Gus Trenor and feels a surge of confidence as she...
The Charwoman's Dangerous Discovery
Lily returns to her aunt's dreary Fifth Avenue house, feeling increasingly isolated as her social in...
The Price of Independence
Lily enjoys her newfound financial independence from Trenor's stock tip, finally free from constantl...
When Gossip Becomes Weaponized
As New York's social season begins amid economic uncertainty, only newcomers like Simon Rosedale are...
The Tableau and the Kiss
Lily finds herself trapped in increasingly complicated relationships with the Trenors. Gus Trenor, w...
The Trap Springs Shut
Lily receives two notes that will change everything: one from Mrs. Trenor inviting her to dinner, an...
The Cruelty of Unequal Hearts
Gerty Farish awakens from dreams of happiness, believing Lawrence Selden's growing attention signals...
When All Doors Close
Lily wakes in Gerty's cramped room, confronting the harsh reality of her situation in daylight. The ...
Running from What Follows You
Selden arrives in Monte Carlo hoping to escape his complicated feelings about Lily Bart, only to lit...
The Mask Slips Off
Lily wakes up alone on the yacht in Monte Carlo, basking in the Mediterranean beauty that has helped...
The Public Humiliation
Selden works behind the scenes to prevent the Dorset marriage from exploding into public scandal, kn...
The Will That Changes Everything
Lily arrives at her aunt's will reading expecting to inherit a fortune that will solve all her probl...
Finding New Friends, Losing Yourself
Lily hits rock bottom after being cut off by her aunt, wandering Fifth Avenue like a lost soul when ...
The Temptation of Revenge
Lily encounters George Dorset during a solitary walk, and he desperately begs for her forgiveness an...
The Blackmail Proposition
Lily takes a walk with Rosedale, steeling herself to accept his marriage proposal as her last chance...
The Price of Keeping Up
Lily's world continues to shrink as winter settles over New York. The Gormers, her latest social lif...
The False Position
Lily wakes up in luxury at the Emporium Hotel, working as secretary to Mrs. Norma Hatch, a wealthy d...
The Weight of Honest Work
Lily's fall from grace reaches its most concrete form as she struggles in a millinery workroom, her ...
The Last Temptation
Lily wanders Fifth Avenue after losing her job at the millinery shop, watching her former social wor...
The Final Goodbye
Lily visits Selden one last time in his library, the same room where their relationship began. She c...
The Weight of a Child's Trust
Lily sits alone in Bryant Park, exhausted and dependent on chloral to sleep, when Nettie Struther—a ...
The Final Reckoning
Selden rushes to Lily's boarding house on a bright morning, finally ready to declare his love. But h...
About Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist who became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born into New York's elite, she used her insider knowledge to dissect the cruelty beneath Gilded Age glamour.
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