Set at the turn of the twentieth century, the novel The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton offers a complete and insightful view to the varying degrees of classes that made up the women's society at the time. Each female character portrays a different part of society, ranging from the powerful rich, to the disrespected poor. Every character's personality and decisions were based around their desire, or ... lack there of, to fit into a ... to being excluded from society anyway. Gerty Farish was an independent woman who thought outside of society's ideals and was not obligated to conform to the ...

• Word Count: 1424
• Approx Pages: 6

... , she struggles in an old, conservative society. This story is, by and large, of the "novel of manners" literary genre. As in other works of this genre (for example, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth), Daisy Miller focuses on the behavior of its characters in social situations. Most of the action involves Daisy's social missteps, followed by discussion ... of those missteps. Characters constantly refer to their social statuses and are engaged in bettering their places. Such social maneuvering was crucial in late ... ...

• Word Count: 1470
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School