A Financial Connection

"All her life Lily had seen money go out as quickly as it came in" (116).

Lily isn't very good at handling money as we have seen, she gains it gambling, then spends it on luxury clothes and jewelry, but it's nothing really practical. This quote kind of sums up Lily's financial situation. When I read it, it reminded me of Marx and how he argues that people are too reliant on money. They get caught up in it and forget about other things. Then there's the gap between the rich and the poor. That is why he advocated communism, because it decreased the physiological value of money and put everyone on an equal level. Lily is always trying to prove that she is in the top tier of society, she is always trying to appear like she has more money than she does. I think Marx would disapprove of her thinking and her obsession with money

Seldon

It seems to me that Selden's character in The House of Mirth is created to help the reader understand and realize some of the absurdities of the social scene. He is sort of on the fringe of this level of society and sort questions it himself with his relationship with Lily. He questions her actions and her values. Maybe Wharton is using him a "control" to sort of compare to with the rest of the characters and how they act in their world.

And it All Connects Back...

"success-what is success?" and the response "personal freedom...from everything" (70)

This is a piece of a conversation between Lily and Seldon about the idea of success. Lily thinks success is about making the most out of life, "to get as much as one can out of life..." whereas Seldon's definition is about gaining personal freedom, freedom from everything material and concrete. I found this to be an interesting connection in the text to Marx, Nietzsche and Gandhi, (as well as along the themes of this entire semester...) that total success in life requires man to take a step back from society and its many restraints. To forget about material goods and focus on spiritual philosophy and knowledge.

Marx wants us to give up our obsession with material goods and work instead as a community for the good of everyone. Nietzsche stressed the rigid formality of society and the need man retained to break away from it. Gandhi also, spoke of personal freedom when he talked about living a simple, modest life of nonviolent behavior and without predetermined expectations or duties. All philosophies arguing the benefits of thinking for yourself. In a way, Lily is right as well, this is how to make the most out of life, to break from the norm and the dependency of modern civilization to enjoy life in its most natural state, a free mind and free body. Personal freedom.

Flexibility is a Must

"Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one" (37).

I liked this metaphor in The House of Mirth because it talks about how adapting to one's situation and dealing with it is better than remaining stubborn and unmoved by it. When Lily and her mother lose most of their money and are forced to become more or less nomadic, Lily does not break down and lose hope, she doesn't close-up and harden her shell. Instead she becomes more flexible than before, accepting her new fate for the time being and adapting to her environment to make the most of it. She will not break with such a sudden change of lifestyle, instead she will bend around it and make it fit.

Lily and Lizzy

So far reading the House of Mirth has been a fun, new change considering our past titles of Gandhi, Nietzsche and Marx. I am enjoying the characters and an actual plot, not to mention the excellent writing style. Finally. This book actually reminds me of one of may favorite books: Pride and Prejudice . The descriptions about how the rich live, the lavish parties, dresses, food etc all remind me of the lifestyles of the Bennett's and the rest of them. The values are the same too. The young women are worried about getting married, missing opportunities. Worried about dying an old maid, poor, without any financial security, etc. They spend their money on dresses and jewelry all in hopes of bettering their chances to advance in society. Lily is like Elizabeth Bennett (or Lizzy as they called her), they are both deep thinkers and strong women. They both are looking beyond what the average woman wants, they are the rebels of their time, much to their mothers' disappointment. Young, pretty (but not overly so...), and thoughtful, they are anomalies.

Product Value to Personal Value

"If commodities could speak, they would say this: our use-value may interest men, but it does not belong to us as objects. What does belong to us as objects, however, is our value" (243).

Marx emphasizes here that it's not really the product we are interested in that makes up buy more and pay more, it's the relationship we imagine with that product. It's the way we think that product will affect the value we place on ourselves. This behavior is reflective of our "fetish" with the Monetary System. We, as humans, as a society, are obsessed with branding and personal value. We seem to try to express our own self worth through the products we buy. For example, if I choose to buy a $100 pair of jeans I may deem myself more valuable as a person than if I bought a $30 pair. The fact that I was able to spend this amount on a pair of jeans tells others that I am worth more than they are. Such a simple conscious purchase with such a powerful subconscious societal message attached. Also, consider the product's use-value. Working with my example again, the expensive pair of jeans may not prove to be any more useful or of any higher quality than the cheaper pair, but it's all about the brand, the money, and how that money and that brand portray me as a person to the rest of the members of society.

I find this phenomenon super interesting and I love to analyze how people buy things and why they buy them due to marketing, fashion trends and role models. There was actually a book I read recently called Why We Buy which explained our buying habits according to certain store displays and how the stores choose subconsciously our next purchases depending on floor plans, sales, and customer service. But for the record, my favorite pair of jeans cost me $15 at a consignment store and are worn at least five times as much as my $70 pair, so it's all relative.

"To Produce His Means of Subsistence"

Marx defines man as a creature who "begins to distinguish himself from the animal the moment he begins to produce his means of subsistence, a step required by his physical organization" (Marx 107). This is like Gandhi and his metaphor with the railroads and how railroads are bad because they are created by man and pull man faster and farther away from his maker. Man is one of the only animals who really does produce for himself. Think about it. We are constantly creating machines and certain inventions meant to make our lives easier, to aid us in our existence, to sustain ourselves. These are not natural creations and were not inherited in our genes. These "alien" developments are what Marx says separates Man from animals and thus natural history and the history of man. The idea of further production is, as Marx stresses, the main goal of man in society. Thus, the division of labor, the economic system, etc etc.

Communism is what Marx thinks is the next step in man's history. Man's "physical organization" and production. But can man subsist off this?