Interesting Ending

The closing chapters of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth find Lily Bart finally achieving happiness and satisfaction in her life.  She found by meeting someone she had helped a long time ago, that person opened Lily's eyes to the good things in the world.  Lily even regrets that "during her transient phase of luxury at the Emporium she had slipped back into habits of extravagance which still impaired her slender balance," (Wharton, 259).  At this point in the story Lily has moved away from wanting to be happy and toward realizing that her old way of life wasn't giving her any happiness and she regretted in.  Soon her only desire was to have a good night's sleep.  She unfortunately overdoses and dies in her sleep, and on the morning Selden was going to profess his love for her.  Before she dies she is finally able to repay the debts she owes after she receives her portion of Peniston's legacy.  This scene is extremely defeating, as these two have had several close encounters throughout the book.  However, some closure is gained when Selden says the word that made the couple work.  Although the ending was rather anticlimactic, it provided a good conclusion to a woman's journey through the social classes of the early twentieth century.