Lily And Seldenn Diction Analysis

Throughout Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, there are many details that help give the reader a deeper, more profound, meaning of the book's intended purpose. Krakauer is one of the most renowned American writers, publishing many books focused specifically focused on nature, and people’s struggles in nature. Through much of the book, Krakauer incorporates many examples of diction and imagery to help the reader grasp the essence of the book. By using a wide range of literary techniques, Krakauer is able to communicate the events that transpired throughout the book.

Wharton takes the much-admired upper crust of society and exposes them, not in a hurtful world, but an objectively world. Wharton writes: "I've come to the conclusion that I don't in the least know what they are," said Mrs. Ansley. "And perhaps we didn't know much more about each other."(780) This one passage serves as a direct commentary on both the bonds of friendship and family life. Wharton's language is objective, straightforward. The character speaks these alarming

Women in society sometimes are subject to objectification, meaning they are treated as a mere object; unequal to men. In the novel, The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, this holds true, except, women are said to be equal to men, but are not treated in this exact manner. Lily is apart of the upper class society of New York and attends parties, gambles all her money, and throughout the whole book tries to marry a rich man. Wharton’s feminism is apparent in the way she treats Lily; Lily gets through society, merely by keeping up her appearances. Beauty and appearance are everything in this society, if you are beautiful you will get far in society, however, the only thing Lily is lacking is wealth. In the novel, feminism is present with the idea of appearances and the symbol of money is used to convey that men are needed to control a women’s social stability.

Lily Bart, the protagonist of The House of Mirth, is herself a participant in the social economy of the novel. Her personal contribution to the economy is her beauty; however, it becomes clear early in the novel that she is both a contributor and a product within the system itself “she must have cost a great

The life of a lady in the 19th century is painted in a romantic light. Pictured in her parlor, the lady sips tea from delicate china while writing letters with a white feathered quill. Her maid stands silently off in the background, waiting for orders to serve her mistress. What is not typically pictured, is the sadness or boredom echoed on the lady’s face. Perhaps the letter is to a dear friend, not seen in ages, pleading with the friend to visit, in hopes that the friend will fill the void in the lady’s life made from years spent in a loveless marriage; or possiblyk20 the lady isn’t writing a letter at all, but a novel or a poem, never to be read by anyone but her. Edith Warton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are 19th Century ladies who dare to share their writing with the world. Through their works, the darker side of a woman’s life in the late 1800’s is exposed. Gender politics in the 19th dictates that a lady is dependent on her husband for her financial security and social standing; that is if she is fortunate enough to marry at all. In Edith Warton’s The House of Mirth, Lily Bart is a beautiful woman in her late 20’s, who fails to marry a wealthy man. The narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper slowly goes insane under her physician husbands misguided attempts to cure her of depression. The downfall of Lily Bart and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is

Throughout the novel, the author’s voice appears to criticize the empty morals of Old New York, where she once belonged. With refined use of irony, Wharton explored the established social order that prevented individuals to deviate from the traditional structure. The novel’s Archer Newland is one who failed to break “through barriers of convention” and can’t escape “steely embrace of the tribe” (Auchincloss 44). Despite being the protagonist, Archer fails to break away from the tight-knit group. Archer’s life is in a settled pattern; His indecisiveness prevents expression (McDowall 54).

Instead of relying on another power that is above her, she takes her fate into her own hands and tries to save her own home. This self reliance develops early, and can also be seen much later in her life. When she is twenty-seven, Lily learns that her husband has a secret second family. She leaves him immediately and manages to annul the marriage. Although he had taken all of her money from their joint bank account, she does not go back to her parents in Arizona or try to find another husband to take care of her. Instead, she begins preparing for her future alone. “Since I obviously couldn't count on a man to take care of me, what I needed more than ever was a profession. I needed to get my college education and become a teacher . . . the time flew by, and when both the dispensation and the acceptance letter arrived, I had enough money for a year of college” (p. 90). Instead of wondering what to do and moping about her ex-husband, Lily is practical and knows what she wants to do next. She also mentions that she cannot depend on a husband to take care of her. If she did not have to fend for

Mullen describes Lily’s situation as “Lily Bart has been predominantly framed as a tragic victim caught within the irresistible market forces of capitalism and the fatal contradictions of gender and class politics” (45). The novel, “The House of Mirth” filled with nuances of gender and class politics. Mullen points out a weakness in Lily’s character, her position in the forces of the capitalist circle. The females in the novel face the pressures from the social circle as well. Lily is a product of her culture and upbringing. Success is measured by the capital worth and how one would survive in their social class. Unfortunately, Lily didn’t have to chance to remain in her former social class circle, after trying to pay off her debts. She died the night that she received her

      Near the beginning of The House of Mirth, Wharton establishes that Lily would not indeed have cared to marry a man who was merely rich: "she was secretly ashamed of her mothers crude passion for money" (38). Lily, like the affluent world she loves, has a strange relationship with money. She needs money to buy the type of life she has been raised to live, and her relative poverty makes her situation precarious. Unfortunately, Lily has not been trained to obtain money through a wide variety of methods. Wharton's wealthy socialites do not all procure money in the same way: money can be inherited, earned working in a hat shop, won at cards, traded scandalously between married men and

Newland declares to the table that women have the right to be “as free as [men] are” (Age of Innocence 38). As the women talk further about Ellen, Newland states that he is sick of the “hypocrisy that would bury a woman” for preferring to be with her husband, contrary to what others believe (Age of Innocence 37). Newland sees a small connection between the women’s opinions and his own relationship with Ellen. He begins to see he must make a choice between Ellen and May, unbeknownst to him that his choice will be what is “socially acceptable” to old New York (“Edith Wharton” 2). Newland then decided that May should have the same “freedom of experience” he has (Age of Innocence 42).

Yet, this very society that demand its women be superficial creatures that merit worth only by appearance is also one which immediately rejects a woman who seems intent on marrying a man with wealth-the one course open to women who wish to be accepted in society.  This may be where one of Lily's character qualities prevents her from being able to join such a society.  She is no good at hiding her desire to marry a man of wealth.  In fact, she even tells Selden, her true love, that she "is very expensive" and "must have a great deal of money" (Wharton  31).  These kinds of admissions make Lily appear to be the one thing this superficial society cannot bear-a scheming adventuress out to snag a rich

This passage demonstrates how deeply rooted wealth and marriage are to Lily’s character. Lily cannot survive without money and she can never find a perfect marriage. At the time of this passage Lily is

Wharton portrays Grace and Alida having certain peculiar comparisons. Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade appear to reach the realization after remaining friends for several years now, they scarcely

Satire, in which Wilde places throughout the dialogue, is used to deride Victorian age concept of marriage and exhibit the theme to the audience. This is evident when Wilde addresses how Gwendolen and Cecily refuse to marry a man if their names were not

Through the use of literary devices, Pride and Prejudice reveals Jane Austen’s attitude towards the novel’s theme of true love through the actions of the suitors; the process of courtship in the 1800s articulates characterization, foreshadowing, and irony. The novel opens with the line, “it is a truth acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of wife,” (Austen 1) which foreshadows the conflict of finding a significant other . During the Victorian age, men and women courted others of the same education, wealth, and social status; it was considered uncommon for someone to marry beneath them or to marry for love. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth Bennett’s encounters with different characters of varying