A Study On Lily Bart's Consumption Psychology In The House Of Mirth

The House of Mirth is a famous work of Edith Wharton,which reflects the tragedy of women's life under the patriarchal system.This tragedy is related to the conspicuous consumption psychology of the United States during the transitional period from the late 19^thh century to the early 20^th century.This thesis analyses Lily Bart's conspicuous consumption psychology from T.B.Veblen's theory of consumption.The negative effect of consumption on American Society will be discussed combined with a close reading of the novel and a theoretical guide.The whole thesis consists of five parts.The first part is a brief introduction to Edith Wharton and her writings.The second part introduces the background of the US as a consumption society from the late 19th century to the early 20th century followed with a survey of Veblen's theory on conspicuous consumption.The third part is the major focus of this thesis,exploring Lily Bart's consumption performance and psychology,mainly embodied in her material and spiritual consumption performance.The fourth part is about the tragedy resulted from Lily Bart's conspicuous consumption.The fifth part is the conclusion,summarizing that the spiritual emptiness and vanity of the people in the upper class society and commercialization are the root of conspicuous consumption.As a conclusion,the thesis points out that Lily Bart's mode of conspicuous consumption is a symptom of distorted value towards life,which should be severely criticized.