Analysis Of The House Of Mirth, By Edith Wharton

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Recommended: Analytical essay of ethan frome by edith wharton

Alexis Rondinelli
Mrs. Gazso
AP English Language and Composition
27 April 2014
TITLE
Sade Adu once said, “I think you only really feel like an outsider if you've been an insider.” “Known for her psychological examination of characters faced with changes in the moral and social values of middle-class and upper-class society,” Edith Wharton uses her insider knowledge of being born into a wealthy New York family as well as her experience of being in an estranged marriage to create insightful, funny, and at times gloomy novels. Wharton sets her novels in the same time period she lived and therefore incorporates the glitz and glamour of the late 19th century and early 20th century into some of her novels. Wharton’s characters typically face both internal and external dilemmas; in The House of Mirth, Wharton shows the ugly side of living up to the standards of upper-class society, while Ethan Frome illustrates the hardships of being confined in a dreary, old town. Wharton captivates her readers through the use of moral seriousness and setting in order to demonstrate how class affects moral behavior and ultimately confines the individual.
Born in 1862 to a notable New York family, Edith Wharton was constantly at war with the expectations of living in New York high society. Wharton, a creative woman, was not content with being a society matron. Wharton experienced many obstacles prior to becoming the first female to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. Wharton was unable to attend school since her and her family traveled around Europe for over 5 years; she independently took charge of her schooling by reading several intermediate novels and by receiving lessons from a governess. After being pressured to marry, Edith married Teddy Wharton at...

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...hers, made him attach a fantastic importance to every change in her look and tone” (). Ethan’s unhappy marriage parallels Wharton’s; the character Mattie plays the role of Morton Fullerton and Zeena plays Teddy. The happiness as well as confliction that Wharton experienced when Morton came into her life is seen through Ethan’s thoughts and actions.
By effectively using setting and applying serious moral undertone to her novels, Edith Wharton is able to show how class affects moral behavior and ultimately confines the individual. Wharton’s novels tend to center around confinement, bad relationships, and the power class has on one’s life. In both The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome, Wharton shows the hardships of living in the historical periods of the 19th and 20th centuries, since she uses events that occurred in her own life. Wharton’s writing is prevalent today

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