Feuding Friends

Feelings of hatred and frustration are directed at Lily Bart in these next two chapters of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. A heated conversation between Lily Bart and Gus Trenor takes place. I believe that Gus Trenor instigated this argument to call Lily out on her actions because he was frustrated. Also, I do not believe that Lily's actions were ever called out by someone so aggressively. Being flirtatious with men has been a distinct aspect of Lily's personality since the beginning of the book. Gus Trenor was upset because Lily was not reciprocating the feelings that he shared for her. Meanwhile, Selden was showing a growing interest in Gerty Farish, Lily's best friend. Though Lily and Gerty were best friends, Gerty began to feel as though she hated Lily. I think these feelings were fueled by the men in their lives. Even though Gerty was weighing her true investments in her friendship with Lily, Gerty knew that Lily was going through a lonely point in her life. "Everything in the past seemed simple, natural, full of daylight- and she was alone in a place of darkness adn pollution.- Alone! It was the loneliness that frightened her" (Wharton, 138). Lily was starting to get a taste of loneliness in her life; something that Lily did not have an aquired taste for. I think that Lily's troubles with her relationships are going to only worsen before they get better.