Fate's Guiding Hand

The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
Chapters VII & VIII, pages 201-221

"'Oh, Gerty, I wasn't meant to be good,'" (Wharton, 215).

I am starting to feel bad for Miss Lily Bart. I feel like her plight has now fallen out of her control, and she is at the mercy of fate. Up until this point, I could always find some way that Lily could have avoided a social blunder or financial point, but I find a more difficult time as she slips farther and farther off of her social pedestal. I want her to be happy again. I want to be able to live the only life that she has ever known.

However, I fail to think that this will be so. The above quote is likely a form of foreshadowing or maybe a revelation of Lily's hubris embedded by Wharton in the context of her characters' conversation. As I read further and further into the book, I think that Wharton had destined Miss Lily Bart to failure since she was a mere thought in the mind of her creator. It is sad, yes, but I have come to accept that not everyone can be happy, especially when one has passed up so many opportunities to make oneself happy. Maybe it is just too late for Lily, but I favor the explanation of the role of fate.

I might be wrong, but I'm willing to bet that the rest of the book continues to follow Lily downwards until it closes with a last glance at the place from which she had fallen.