Novelist Edith Wharton wrote her defining work, 1905's the House of Mirth, on a subject she knew all too well: the style-over-substance realm of New York's upper-crust society during the Gilded Age. Having been raised in this "fashionable" society, Wharton knew both its intricacies and cruelties firsthand. The triumphant rise and tragic fall of protagonist Lily Bart demonstrate both the "sunshine and shadow" of the Gilded Age. The House of Mirth not only exposes the reality of how "the other half live," but also satirizes and condemns their elitist existence.
Historians refer to the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s as America's "Gilded Age."
This was essentially a time when stock market trading and industrial expansion
widened the chasm between America's "haves" and "have nots." This economic
disparity is the basis for Wharton's novel. She set her cautionary tale in New
York because, as a physical setting, it encapsulated the Gilded Age's wealth
distribution gap. The filthy,......

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Title: The House Of Mirth And The Gilded Age
Approximate Word Count: 958
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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