Dread (Pages 103-121)

In the past section of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Miss Bart seems to jump forward and then fall back again. She jumps forward at the party by being present and not drawing attention to herself and Mr. Trenor at the same time, but then falls back again by going to the Trenor house with only Mr. Trenor in it. Yes she did not know that it was only going to be Mr. Trenor, but the discussion about leaving lasted a bit to long for my taste. Upon hearing these words, I think that Miss Bart should have taken advantage of the wrong doing that Mr. Trenor had done by leading her there, and left the house immediately. I would like to know if Mr. Trenor really wants to have sex with her as hard as he seems to be playing it. The way that he speaks about the help that he gave her with the stalk market seems to be to much for me. It is just some money and not like he saved her life or anything. Miss Bart does not seem to have gotten around that much that she comes off as a whore so I am not quiet sure why he intends to have sexual relations with her. I am very curious to find out what Selden wants and how Miss Bart plans on going about the telling off of him also. I hope that Gerty is in a good comforting mood also so that she can help Miss Bart sort out her problems and hopefully decide to like Selden more. My favorite quote from this section of reading was an entire sentence from the discussion that Mr. Trenor and Miss Bart had concerning the money. The sentence described Miss Bart's feelings when she realized what Mr.Trenor desired from her, "Over and Over her the sea of humiliation broke-wave crashing on wave so close that the moral shame was one with the physical dread"(Page 119). Beautifully written.