American Literature. American Schmiterature.

Prepare yourself.


You are about to read a really depressing post. 


Seriously, I am not kidding.


OK, here it goes.....


I have to write a 750 word report on The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, for my American Literature class. Here is the topic thingie. (Please excuse my  grammar. haha)

Edith Wharton was a writer skilled in the use of literary allusion.  How does her choice of the name “Lily” relate to the following allusions?

·        -- The ideas captured by the phrase “gilding the lily”

·        --  The Gilded Age setting of the story

·        -- The concept of the lily as a symbol for purity

·         -- The verse that states, “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, the spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Luke 12:27)

Discuss at least three events in the novel that illustrate these allusions and evaluate the importance of Wharton’s name choice to the meaning and impact of the novel.

Now WHAT THE HECK am I going to do with this?! 

OY! Tomorrow is going to be a very long day...............................................................................................................
(I am emphasizing the long-ie-ness of what tomorrow is going to be like, just in case you were confused.)