THE AWAKENING

During the book "The Awakening" there was many times that I was all over the place with confusion. First off I for one believe if she did not want children she did not have to have them. It seemed to me a lot of the other woman that she was around did not have children either. I will say others did have children, but not all. Another thing that really confused me is that she did not want to be with her husband anymore and she wanted to be with Robert, yet she was all over Arobin kissing him and what not.

Starting off with the children situation, she did not want to have children and she made that pretty obvious in the book. Although she never spent time with them or cared for them as a mother should she did not want to be a mother because well I think it was to much responsibility for herself and she wanted to be more independent and having children just does not make you independent because there is a young being who is looking up to you for guidance and support. At the end of the book before she goes and kills herself she makes a statement that really makes me see the person she really is "she thought of leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could have possess her, body and soul".(pg 109) To me when she says this line she is saying I do not want to be tied down and having a husband and children are not what I want there is no other way to live in this society unless I just kill myself and make it look like a tragic accident. I guess I did not live back in this day so I do not know the real struggles but even in today's society people want to have sex and then when they get pregnant freak out because that is not what they wanted in life. I think you should know the consequences of every situation before doing the things you want to do.

Now for how Edna is married but does not want to be married and wants to be with Robert, but Robert went to Mexico and ends up kind of flirting with Arobin. This is just a huge mess, but I think the reason that Edna was all close to Arobin was because Robert was not there and she wanted some sort of affection. I believe the only way she could receive this affection was through Arobin, because the second Robert gets back in the picture Arobin is out of the picture while her husband is still her husband he just does not really matter. There is one huge question that I ponder in the back of the book there is a paragraph titled "flirtation and increasing fastness of manner" in this paragraph there is a little part that caught my attention "no man cares to marry a free lance. Let her catch her fish, land him safely, and then, as a young married woman, let her go in and win as a married flirt. She will gain a fashionable position and a detestable reputation" (pg 124). If anyone has the real meaning of this quote please let me know because I am still a little confused by it.

Over all I thought this book was good, I did not like that she committed suicide in the end. Nor did I like how we do not find out what the husbands and kids thought or who found her and how, I always wish books would elaborate a little more on the extreme details, but I guess most authors want you to make up your own ending to the story.

The House of Mirth

I believe that after finally finishing the book "The House of Mirth" it ended up being a great book. There was one thing that really struck me throughout the book and that was the fact that Lily Bart would not tell her so called "Friends" the truth of what happened with Mr. Dorset. I do not know why but this really upset me, may be for the fact that she might have still inherited her aunts money and may be even married Seldon (not sure if that would have been possible at all but there is a may be). Lily and Gerty have a very important conversation "you should tell your friends the whole truth." "the whole truth?" Miss Bart laughed. "what is truth? Where a woman is concerned, it's the story that's easiest to believe. In this case it's a great deal easier to believe Bertha Dorset's story than mine, because she has a big house and an opera box, and it's convenient to be on good terms with her." (Wharton 176). Once I read this passage I started to understand why Lily was not telling her so called friends the truth it was because she was not rich and she did not have things to basically make her friends want to stay her friends. They would rather have a good social engagement then have real friends that actually cared about them. The other line that Lily Bart states really makes me understand the kind of way she thinks, "the truth about any girl is that once she's talked about she's done for; and the more she explains her case the worst it looks." (Wharton 177). When Lily says this I really understand they way she is thinking. Which I think I finally understand her because I think the same way. Once something bad happens and someone tries to make everyone believe they did nothing wrong it makes them look more guilty. In a way I give serious props to Miss Bart for not sticking up for herself, but also for not trying to get revenge either.

I was really fascinated at how the book ended. As soon as Lily went to the drug store to get the prescription filled I had a very big hunch that she was going to end up over dosing on the medicine I did not know however if she would end up passing away or going into the hospital and having more mean things spread about her. One thing that really struck me as odd was that she went to Sheldon's and kept saying I am leaving the old Lily here and once I found out she died at the end I kind of thought that that was her plan. Then when you actually get to the part of her death right before it she believes she is going to be waking up in the morning. I guess I am just confused on whether or not she did it on purpose or if she really did not think taking a little more would do any harm. I was very upset to find out that Sheldon was finally going to go there to marry her, and when he got there he was legit upset to find out that she had passed. I do not think that he really understood how much he loved her until he went through her things and really got to thinking about her. Another thing that really really bothered me was when he was going through her things and he found the envelope to Mr, Dorset with the check in it for the money she "owed" him and Sheldon was in a sort of way talking crap about Lily saying the rumors were true and such, Then once he found the check book with the inheritance he kind of put everything together.

Over all I was really pleased with this book, I did not like I would like it as much as I did. I wish Lily would have ended up getting married and becoming of a higher social class than Mrs. Dorset but the book still was very pleasant.