House_Of_Mirth

House Of Mirth “Everything about her was at once was at once vigorous and exquisite, at once strong and fine. He had a confused sense that she must have cost a great deal to make, that a great many dull and ugly people must, in some mysterious way, have been sacrificed to produce her. He was aware that the qualities distinguishing her from the herd of her sex were chiefly external, as though a fine glaze of beauty and fastidiousness had been applied to vulgar clay.” –(p 3.) Readers are offered these early impressions of Lily Bart from the mind of Lawrence Selden as they walk toward his flat on Madison Avenue. I think that this quote is interesting for a few reasons: by saying “she must have cost a great deal to make,” Lily is immediately seen as a commodity: if workers were “sacrificed” to make this “produce,” her person is not only objectified, but quantified as a value in lily, must, selden, once, make, great, fine, been, women, way, value, through, think, sense, sacrificed, rest, produce, interesting, glaze, financial, deal, cost, confused, beauty, workers, wealth, walk, vulgar, vigorous, views, values, upon, unlike, ugly, trouble