Abstract Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth (1905) is generally read as the rise and fall of Lilly Bart. However, another narrative is also manifest in The House of Mirth: the social ascent, albeit troubled, of Simon Rosedale. While the former narrative has been avidly discussed and interpreted, the latter narrative has played a negligible role in understanding the novel. This is surprising since the novel is tied together by the theme of parallel lives. As Lily falters, Rosedale thrives, which subtly reveals the value system of Wharton’s fiction. As earlier critics have noted, The House of Mirth is a two-toned novel. On the one hand, the story of Lily Bart is a progressive critique of American society, discoursing on the struggles of women to find a new identity in a world that constricts their humanity to a few meaningless roles. The narrator treats Lily as a full-blown character with all the conflicts and contradictions that define a character that is fully human. On the other hand, Simon Rosedale is a flat character, devoid of human complexity, defined by his ethnicity. What makes this novel remarkable is the coexistence of feminist and antisemitic motifs in the same narrative without generating any dissonance.
Jerry Schuchalter (Fri,) studied this question.