Blog 7- Detailed response to a specific line

In Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth, a line regarding Lily Bart stuck out to me. "She was realising for the first time that a woman's dignity may cost more to keep up than her carriage," (Wharton,138)... This, I believe to be the first time Lily Bart is aware of the greater worth and hardship of a positive view of oneself with respect and dignity for oneself. It is harder to keep one's head up and remain confident in the inside, than to keep up the view of oneself that revolves around material items and how one looks from the outside. Previously, I had been upset with Miss Lily Bart's character values because they differed largely from what is right. Now, I feel Lily pays heed to the mess of a debt to Gus Trenor in which she got herself involved. I believe Miss Bart wants to wash her hands of the matter and start from a clean slate. If this is true, I find that choice to be very admirable. I think that Lily continues on the path to bettering herself. No matter what kind of values and conditions she was raised under, Lily is already starting to defy previous assumptions about her.