The House of Mirth: Book II, Chapters XIII and XIV (Overview)

This blog post will be used to give an overview of my thoughts over Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Despite the tragic ending, I personally enjoyed reading this novel. I was surprised at how much each character changed throughout the course of the book. The book contained a great deal of imagery in the descriptive settings and a great deal of irony through the interaction of characters. Wharton did a great job at creating a suspenseful mood/tone to the book by always having the reader guess what Miss Bart was going to get herself into next. The themes that Wharton included throughout the novel were also very powerful and could teach the reader some good lessons. A quote that I found early on in the book and stood out to me is, "Society is a revolving body" (Wharton, 39). This quote is interesting purely by the fact that it is an accurate statement. Society is constantly changing because of the people who have influence on society. This novel helped me to further understand the issues that come with wealth, and how society impacts the way in which people act. Despite the elevated diction and frequent points of confusion, I actually think this was a really good novel and worth reading again in the future.