Brain Work (Pages 50-67)

The House of Mirth, written by Edith Wharton, is developing into a book that has many love interests. In this past reading many left the party that Miss Bart was at and headed back. I find it intriguing that parties were not just a six to eight hour period as they are now, but instead lasted an entire week long. One person that leaves is Mr. Gryce. He takes off and the discussion following his departure between women remaining is very comical. I did it humorous because they so easily talk behind each others back when they are not present very commonly to the way that humans interact today. It never crosses their mind to just simply find a way to confront the man face to face and find the real motivation for going away so quickly. I find the theme of motivation in this book strongly subjunctive because we never actually get to be the person and fully understand their thought processing behind what is currently takin place. In the final pages of this book Mrs. Trenor takes Miss Bart aside and discusses pickin up Mr. Trenor from the station in a confusing way for me. Why is she concerned with the women who has the new cash flow on her? Is cheating on a spouse common in these times? If I understood the time period in depth perhaps I would entirely understand all of the dialogue. O well. In the car ride discussion I once again and brought to a point that I am concerned by motivation. Why is Miss Bart asking for this aid in her problems with wealth? I though that he was on the wall between getting married and thinking about getting married to Selden. I'm sure this will solve itself. I'll end with my favorite sentence in this group and it is, "Her personal fastidiousness had a moral equivalent, and when she made a tour of inspection in her own mind there were certain closed doors she did not open."(page 66) I find this concept of keeping yourself in check very nifty. Also the fact that this made me think about my AP psych work pulled my brain towards it too.