House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

“She [Lily] knew that she hated dinginess as much as her mother had hated it, and to her last breath she meant to fight against it, dragging herself up again and again above its flood till she gained the bright pinnacles of success which presented such a slippery surface to her clutch (30).”

                The apple does not fall far from the tree. This cliché rings genuine in the instance between Lily Bart and her mother, who loved to host parties and spend money. She absolutely loved the finer things in life and despised anyone who did not value frivolity and happiness. The mother would often ask if her husband expected her to “live like a pig (23)” when he denied her something expensive. Often, there were parties in the Bart household, and Lily and she travelled to Europe for the entire summer. These memories of the luxurious life plague Lily. She desires to be rich again without the care of managing money. The influence of childhood and her maternal role model created grand expectations for the rest of Lily’s life. Before Mr. Bart died, Mrs. Bart realized the consequences. Afterwards, she exiled herself in disgrace due to the lack of money. Her last wish before she died was that Lily would fight to escape the clutches of poverty to live among the wealthy.