Ruby Sparks Trailer

I've been feeling a little under the weather these past few days...maybe because the weather keeps changing...so I've had way too much time to lounge around on my bed sniffling and watching movies, TV shows, and trailers. I also started reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and have finally gotten around to Season 2 of Downton Abbey.

The latest trailer to intrigue and delight me is for Ruby Sparks. Writing, love, characters coming to life, a lovely typewriter, Paul Dano - I like it! Well, the trailer at least.

Books: The House of Mirth Final Thoughts

It took me longer to finish this book than I initially expected because...it gets really, really sad. I like Lily Bart. I like reading about strong, thoughtful, sensitive, intelligent women and their attempts at finding a place in society. When it turns out there is no place for them, it gets harder to turn the pages. 

I think Edith Wharton must have been a brave and brilliant woman. I can't wait to read more of her novels. She allows us to see clearly through Lily's eyes and makes us feel all of her anxiety, dread, hope, and hunger for life. Though Lily doesn't quite grasp this, we realize that there is no place for her. Society is wrong. 

It seems like she only has two choices. The nice choice is to marry a rich man who wants to parade her around like a pretty doll and feel super proud of her. He promises to shower her with money, because obviously that's a woman's greatest dream. He likes when she listens to him talk, so sensitive and kind. They can play out dialogues just like in the theatre, except she is conscious that this is just playing. She wants to live. 

The not so nice choice is to use her hands and try and work. She was raised to look pretty, say pretty things, and make tea in a pretty way. She struggles with having a real job. For the first time, she feels clumsy and awkward. She fails. 

She can't sacrifice her soul, her intelligence, her self and become a mere ornament to be bought and displayed. She has no skills to be able to work. She has no real knowledge of society, of life, of the world, she only knows playacting, performance, pretending. She's different because she's still in touch with her inner self, yearning for real life, following her intuition. Feeling. 

What to do with such women?

The ending is heartbreaking.

The book is wonderful.

Lily Bart in The House of Mirth

I'm about halfway though The House of Mirth but I have to write something about Lily Bart. I think she's a fascinating character...I'm always interested in female characters who are trapped in stifling outward roles despite possessing a beautiful inner world full of original, interesting thoughts and a desperate desire to be free and to live a life independent of society's norms and restrictions.

Lily Bart is a beautiful woman with no parents and no money. She was born into the upper classes and made her debut in society, but at 29 she remains unmarried and reliant on her aunt's charity. She has a natural affinity for beauty and luxury...to me, her desire for a luxurious life does not seem superficial. I think Lily is very sensitive to the beauty in life and finds fulfillment, inspiration, and a kind of joie de vivre in lovely things. The world that fits her is a beautiful world in which dowdiness, passivity, and unimaginative day to day drudgery are unacceptable. Unfortunately, the only way that she can inhabit this world permanently is to marry rich.

I guess it could be said that one of the sad things in the novel is how Lily has many chances to change her life, but she never succeeds in doing this. If she can just (finally) make a choice and commit herself to a man, she can live comfortably for the rest of her life. But to do this would also be completely against her character. On the one hand, Lily wants an exquisite life in high society...but her strong sense of self, her desire to live freely, her repugnance at being possessed by a man like a brainless doll get in the way of her plans to marry rich. She cannot help but rebel, even when she is incredibly close to success.

To me this seems really amazing actually. Lily is very aware of her poverty and such a life of insecurity would cause most people to jump at the first opportunity of a comfortable, secure future.  However, Lily is so resistant to having her sense of self, her identity, her freedom be swept away, tainted, bought that she refuses to bend even in the most dire times.

It's also interesting to note how most men in the novel are presented as oily, ignorant buffoons. They are easily manipulated by women and possess very narrow and shallow minds. The one exception is the man Lily genuinely loves but cannot marry because he is a lawyer (in this world lawyers are not rich enough - and they actually have to work - gasp!). He is an outsider who sees the high society world for the ridiculous theatrical performance that it truly is. He reads books, says witty things, and thinks his own thoughts. He seems to be a perfect match for Lily. He appreciates and admires her mind...he only becomes attracted to her after becoming the first person to enter her inner world and getting acquainted with her real thoughts and ideas. If this was a Hollywood movie, they would totally end up together...eating a candlelit dinner in his modest but comfortable apartment and having a witty conversation reflective of their equality. Alas, Lily needs luxury. And while that makes her sound selfish and shallow, Edith Wharton makes her so easy to sympathize with. I really hope the ending won't be too sad.

And now, more reading! And tea!