Getting a Little Fishy [The House of Mirth Book 2: Chapters 7&8]

The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton

"'I believe you can marry George Dorset tomorrow; but if you don't care for that particular form of retaliation, the only thing to save you from Bertha is to marry somebody else'" (Wharton, 204). Since Lily did not desire that form of retaliation, she went in search for another man: Rosedale. Lily was ready to marry him, but he no longer desired to marry her. Based on what was going on between her and the Dorsets, Lily would be a burden on Rosedale's social status and he believed he could do better now. Rosedale knows about the letters. (I told you, he knows a lot more than we think!) He owns the Benedick, which probably means that he knows that what Lily told him in the very first chapter about seeing her dressmaker was a lie. He also believes the reason Lily will not show the letters is because they are to Selden; maybe he is on to something there.

Loneliness seems to also be a common theme in this section of the book. Lily is lonely, because she does not have a place to stay permanently where she feels she would not be a burden. However, I feel Gerty is the truly alone one. She put all this effort into helping her friend to be left without word from her. She has Selden, her cousin, but if Lily is truly lonely she would be open into being a good friend in return to her friend who has given so much to her.