House of Mirth

The voices and character types of the protagonists we read about are all so molded and terse that it's kind of a bummer to read some of these books. In House of Mirth for example, I found after the first bit that I hated the main character. I realized though, I had no right to hate her as the story shows a portrait of her within a certain circumstance. It's the same problem raised with the short story with the two sisters. We hated them as a character because we felt they were hopeless, prissy, and helpless. With the father dead, we see no "creation" of their character so we assume at first that they behave like that because that's how they chose to be as people. Here Lily is, concerned about nothing besides how others will view her as she's been taught that appearance is more than everything, but it's not necessarily Lily's true character, so much coaxing has gone on behind the scenes. I read House of Mirth and I want Lily to get upset or transcend above this shallowness. 

-Tyler