Comparing House Of Mirth And Light In August

It is said that everyone at one point in his or her life is in search for something, whether that be money, fame, a relationship or identity. The characters in the novels that were read in the course were also in search for something. What that the characters longed most for was their identity. The two novels that best exemplify the search for identity are The House of Mirth and Light in August. In these novels each of the leading characters were uncertain of who they were supposed to be. The people around them told them who to be to fit the societal mold. Although both stories are very distinct and were written in different years the topic of identity is one that is always discussed, even up to this day. The question is, who really knows what their true identity is. To discover your identity, is a journey that all must take and follow their own path.
In the novel The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, the main character, the beautiful Lily Barth, believes to know what she wants in life. Lily wants a life filled with luxury, and a husband who will give her an elite social status. She occasionally questions herself about who she wants to be if she does not achieve her social status. She has approached an age where she should be married and have children, but she has yet to find either. She has become a victim of her …show more content…
She will lose all of her “friends” because of a rumor that everyone knows is a lie. But no one will ever want to believe a social climber because if they do take her side they too will be ostracize from the group. Thus, it is better to shun the poor Lily Bart. Once Lily has reached the lowest point of her life she realizes that all that seemed important to her, she will have to learn to live without. It not until she has fallen down, that she discovers what she is really worth, the material objects she once longed for, she no longer finds meaning their