Depression within lily’s change of personality  in edith wharton’s the house of mirth

Ackirningsih, Lina Lia

Abstrak 2006. This thesis talks about a woman namely Lily Bart who had two main goals : marriage and wealth. Lily expected to marry a rich man in order to secure her place in society. However, her goals of life were lost since her reputation had been ruined by her friend. Thus, her ruined reputation had made her depressed until she finally chose drugs as a way to solve her problems of life. The data are divided into two, namely primary and secondary data. Primary data taken from the novel The House of Mirth written by Edith Wharton published by David Campbell Publisher Ltd, 1905. The secondary data taken from other related sources outside the novel such as reviews, criticisms, books, and internet which are related to answer the problem statement. The purposes of this thesis is to find out the causes of depression of Lily Bart and secondly is to find out the influences of depression within Lily’s change of personality. In order to achieve the data purposes, the researcher employs psychological approach, particularly Individual Psychology by Alfred Adler. Analysis and data lead the researcher to conclusion that the causes of depression of Lily Bart are the loss of reputation and poverty. The loss of reputation comes from the rumour that she had relation with some married man. While poverty derives from her condition after her aunt left her without any inheritance. The second conclusion is the influence of depression within Lily’s change of personality. Lily’s feeling of inferiority was caused by her condition after her reputation has ruined, and also poverty after her aunt left her without any inheritance. She then tried to gain the goal of life by going back to her society. This striving for superiority was done in order that she could overcome her inferiority feeling. Lily’s creative power appears from her efforts to go back to her society by arranging a plan to meet her former friends. This also appears from her efforts to earn her living by finding a job. Lily’s personal goal was to marry a rich man. In realizing this goal, she then associated with the wealthy people. The life style of Lily before and after she fell into depression was very different. Before she fell, Lily had lived in a luxurious life. However, after her reputation has ruined, her life style changed. She become lived in a poor condition. Within her depressed condition, Lily could not socialize well with her new environment in the working class. Her rejection toward the social environment had caused her to become a loner until she finally lived in isolation, in which, it then caused the climax of her depression. Being depressed, Lily experienced the change of her personality. Lily turned to be a loner. She also felt desperate in facing her future. Finally, in the end of her life, she prefered to choose drugs as a way to solve her problem.