Characters:
- Lily Bart
- Lawrence Selden
Summary:
- centers around Lily Bart, a New York socialite who attempts to secure a husband and a place in affluent society. However, she is so bound-up in her rigid principles that she flatly refuses to grab hold of any opportunities thrown to her.
- the title is taken from Ecclesiastes 7:4: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of folls is in the house of mirth."
- Lily Bart's lawyer friend, Lawrence Selden, would have gladly married her, but she thought him not rich enough.
- When Bertha Dorset's husband asks for her help in a proposed divorce suit against his wife by reason of infidelity, Lily coldly stands aside, uninvolved. Had the trial gone forward, she might have become his second wife.
- A wealthy and doting Mr. Gryce is impetuously snubbed as she decides not to meet him at church.
- She admits her gambling debts to her dour Aunt Julia, who then disinherits her.
- Having repeatedly refused the help of her powerful friends, she alienates them all, and must seek increasingly menial and disreputable proletarian work.
Ethan Frome
Characters:
- Ethan Frome
- Zenobia
- Mattie Silver
- Mrs Ruth Varnum Hale
- Harmon Gow
Summary:
- Ethan Frome wishes to feel vibrant and young again.
- His wife, Zenobia, is a hypochondriac and has led herself to believe she is going to die. Her relatives send for her cousin, Mattie Silver, who needs work as she has been left a penniless orphan.
- Ethan embarks on an affair with Mattie. When Mattie displeases Zeena, she sends her back to the city. Ethan decides that the wants to live with Mattie forever and they decide to sled into a bulky tree so it will kill them instantly and they can both be together in heaven. The accident paralyzes Mattie and leaves Ethan with many ailments.
The Age of Innocence
Characters:
- Newland Archer
- May Welland
- Countess Ellen Olenska
Summary:
- Newland Archer is a lawyer set to marry May Welland but must reconsider his choice with the intrusion of Countess Ellen Olsenka, who has returned to New York because she is trying to separate herself from a bad marriage
- Newland is intrigued by Ellen and becomes more disillusioned with May
- When Ellen wants to divorce her husband, Newland convinces her otherwise and realizes how much he cares for her. He begs May to push up their wedding date but she refuses at first.
- Newland admits to Ellen that he loves her and then receives a telegram pushing up his wedding date.
- Newland and May are married and he tries to forget about Ellen. Ellen agrees she will stay in America if they do not consummate their relationship.
- Newland discovers that Ellen's husband had wanted her to return but she had refused. Ellen comes to New York to care for her sick grandmother and agrees to consummate her relationship with Newland, but decides to return to Europe inexplicably.
- May and Newland throw a farewell party for her and May tells Newland she is pregnant.
- Twenty-five years pass and Newland and his son are in Paris after May's death. They arrange to meet Ellen in her Paris apartment but Newland changes his mind at the last minute, happy to live with his memories.
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