Utilitarianism In Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth

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It is easy to understand why Edith Wharton would have been horrified at the revelation of her assertion that her novel, The House of Mirth, was an indictment of New York’s social elite. While Wharton was very much apart of the society in which she criticized in her novel, she if anyone knew about the precariousness one’s social status in New York hung by. The theme that comes across the most strongly in her work is one of everyone serving a utilitarian function in order for the society to run. The characters in the novel are interchangeable and complacent for the most part in the social games that are elaborately manipulated throughout the novel. Additionally, there are revelations of the objectification of women, conspicuous consumption, immobility of primarily women, but also men, and most importantly a grossly superficial society with the recurring notion that money and beauty are the most important variables in one’s foundation in the upper elite. The social phenomenon and the behaviors aforementioned are clearly represented by the Role Theory and its two variations: function rol...

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