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The House of Mirth Quotes by Edith Wharton: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to The House of Mirth by or associated with Edith Wharton, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

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Identity 1Relationship 1Self-Worth 1Thought-Provoking Quotes That Invite Reflection 1Culture 1Dignity 1
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She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.
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“She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.”

Edith Wharton
Meaning & context

Wharton’s narrator frames Lily Bart as both shaped and constrained by the social world that trained her to depend on status, appearance and an advantageous marriage.

Source details

The House of Mirth, Book One, Chapter 1, Project Gutenberg #284. The narrator describes Lily Bart as a product and victim of the civilization that formed her, turning the links of her bracelet into an image of manacles while Selden considers the social forces shaping her life. It remains literary social criticism and characterization rather than a literal claim of imprisonment or a clinical diagnosis.

More represented works

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