SOURCE: Dimock, Wai-Chee. “Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.” PMLA 100, no. 5 (October 1985): 783-92.

In the following essay, Dimock examines the ways in which the society of The House of Mirth is based on terms of commerce.

“… you got reckless—thought you could turn me inside out and chuck me in the gutter like an empty purse. But, by gad, that ain't playing fair: that's dodging the rules of the game. Of course I know now what you wanted—it wasn't my beautiful eyes you were after—but I tell you what, Miss Lily, you've got to pay up for making me think so.” …

“Pay up?” she faltered. “Do you mean that I owe you money?”

He laughed again. “Oh, I'm not asking for payment in kind. But there's such a thing as fair play—and interest on one's money—and hang me if I've had as...