Chapters 13-14

Possibly one of the most frustrating things in life is to have your peers thinking badly of you for something you didn't know, and not being able to do anything about it.  In Wharton's The House of Mirth, when Mr. Trenor tricks Lily into joining him and his drunken self at his house, he makes if clear to Lily that the men of their community did not think highly of her at all.  He also felt like he was missing out on some supposed special treatment Lily put to use to pay back her other male debtors.  This assumption, too, was a slap in the face to Lily.  I was disgusted at the way he wouldn't let her leave, how he trapped her in the room in hopes of satisfying his own greed.  "'...you know I'm mad about you...'" (Wharton, 119).  These words were probably the most horrifying thing Lily had ever heard.  After all, she was talking to a married man whom she was in debt to!  I'm sure that, in no time, word will get out that Lily Bart was socializing with Mr. Trenor at a late hour and when his wife was not present.

I was also shocked at Gerty's infatuation with her cousin, Lawrence Selden.  She was so jealous of and bitter about Selden's feelings for Lily, for he clearly is in love with her, that she was tempted not to help Lily when she came trembling to her door!  While Lily is realizing what her peers think of her, Selden is discovering what appears to be a relationship between Miss Bart and Mr. Trenor, and he feels cheated.