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Lily Bart's Republic of the Spirit: The Consequences of Developing Independent Self

McCrory, Megan E
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418988909

Abstract Details

, Bachelor of Arts, University of Toledo, English.
Beginning in the late nineteenth century until her death in 1937, Edith Wharton produced an array of novels, novellas, short stories, non-fiction works, and poetry. An early novel, The House of Mirth (1905), features protagonist Lily Bart as a woman reaching enlightenment about her own society and facing the consequences of that knowledge. While Wharton consistently rejects the idea of happy endings in her fiction, the death of Lily Bart appears an undeserved narrative punishment for a character that has learned and developed throughout the novel. Through analysis of the novel and issues at work in Wharton's world at the time of publication, I establish Lily as a character struggling to reconcile her growing internal self against the ornamental object society expects her to be. Inseparable from society and unable to exhibit individuality without first acquiring security through marriage within the upper-class, women are stifled in their development of autonomy. Lily, however, after battling the limitations of society while simultaneously fighting for a place in it, finds herself alone and independent at the conclusion of the novel. I propose that Lily's death is neither punishment nor reward. It is simply the only answer Wharton has for a female character of the upper-class who has lost all sense of relational self. Additionally, Lily Bart is Wharton's examination of the traditional domestic plot for women in fiction and the real world, and her death allows Wharton to comment on the results she perceives for women who reject that path.
Russell Reising, Dr. (Advisor)
Melissa Gregory, Dr. (Advisor)
American Literature
Edith Wharton; The House of Mirth; Lily Bart; The Woman Question; Republic of the Spirit; women; self

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McCrory, M. E. (2014). Lily Bart's Republic of the Spirit: The Consequences of Developing Independent Self [Undergraduate thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418988909

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McCrory, Megan. Lily Bart's Republic of the Spirit: The Consequences of Developing Independent Self . 2014. University of Toledo, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418988909.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McCrory, Megan. "Lily Bart's Republic of the Spirit: The Consequences of Developing Independent Self ." Undergraduate thesis, University of Toledo, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418988909

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

uthonors1418988909
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This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo Honors Theses and OhioLINK.