Sunday, October 2, 2011
Spending More Money
This week I decided to focus on a section in Book 2 Chapter 8 of The House of Mirth. It comes on page 259 when Gerty is talking about how Ned is broke because he spent more money than he could afford. Lilly proceeds to tell Gerty that "I always understand how people can spend much more money--never how they can spend any less!" After this the next line is "she loosened her furs". I found this interesting because she talks that when people are spending time with people with money, they need to have money, or at least make it seem like they have money, in order to be accepted in society. It's funny that Lilly understands how Ned spent more money then he could afford because Lilly does the same thing. She says that people always spend more money and then loosens her furs that she probably could not afford to buy. It just shows how important money is in this society, even if it is just an image that you actually have money, not an actuality.
2 comments:
I agree, it is crazy that money or the perception of how important money is has taken of the minds of the people in this society. I kind of feel bad because that is how people become poor, homeless, even crazy. I wish she would have understood the value of life more than the value of money.
I agree completely, this part of the story was shocking to me, but also understandable for she did really know how Ned felt. I was surprised that Lily did not get a sense of stupidity from herself as she told Gerty that she knew of the feeling, for she continued to try and fit in with the social elite. It was refreshing however, to see that Lily was working to rid of her debt. Still surprising to me that she even told anyone of her social-economic status, for money is everything in that time, and money helped make one's reputation.
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