Between Wall Street and Fifth Avenue: Class and Status in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth

Abstract

Informed by the theories of Max Weber, this essay argues for the necessity of distinguishing between social class and social status in literary texts. Using Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth as a case study, it argues that influential analyses of the novel overlook this distinction and often misinterpret important features of the book. One consequence is that those analyses overestimate the power of economic forces. A central tension of the novel is the conflict between those with money but no status, those with status but no money, and those with both money and status. The essay explores and interrogates the autonomy of class and status in the novel, arguing that many characters are engaged in a failing attempt to erect a sharp division between the two realms—an attempt arising from broader social conditions of the era. The essay concludes that acknowledging the tension between class and status helps us better understand several important features of the novel, including: Lily’s romantic preferences; the novel’s discourse on spectatorship, commodification, and collecting; and the book’s speech codes.