Chapters 5-6 Book II

These couple chapters of Wharton's The House of Mirth were, in a way, Lily's saving grace.  A new set of minor characters in the form of Mattie Gormer and her party were introduced.  Lily desperately needed to be around a new group.  She needed a clean slate; to be around people who knew nothing of her past, just her present, pleasant self.  Lily was in her prime once more in these chapters.  The new party she was with allowed her to go back to her old ways of confidence and the art of pleasing all around her.  I personally liked the women of this group much better than Lily's last choice of "friends".  They seemed less shallow and judgemental, and accepted Lily into their group without question; it was an act of acceptance which Lily desperately needed. 

But, as always, money and marriage are Lily's main problems, and she cannot easily escape them.  "'Beat about the question as she would, she knew the outcome of it was that she must try to marry Rosedale'" (Wharton, 200).  For Lily, marrying Rosedale would end her worries about everything...but will she really be able to bring herself to it?