Not Man Enough

While reading the poetry assigned for this section, I noticed that the female gender is not only defining their own roles in society, but they are also defining the roles of men. Women in this day realized that to become feminine, you needed to break through the superficial otherness as defined by men. This was a radical statement because as Loy expresses, masculinity was defined by the repression of women ("The man who lives a life in which his activities conform to a social code which is a protectorate of the feminine element- is no longer masculine...").

Amy Lowell, the poet of "Venus Transiens" may have her poetry simply looked at as a romantic lesbian text which broke the mold because it was a radical idea of the same-sex relationship. I feel, however, that Loy schemed to define women with their delicate beauty and seemed to give them a power of such by even comparing them to Goddesses. The image created by Botticelli's Birth of Venus, was not a strong enough image of the feminine role in Loy's eyes ("was Botticelli's vision fairer than mine"). Here, women are taking on the masculine roles of characterizing other women into a category of feminine but a more powerful, appealing image that may subliminally evoke change.

How can we see this tension between the genders in House of Mirth? By examining Lily's relationships with male characters, we can understand that the men just aren't man enough for her. Her first male to female relationship, the father-daughter relationship, showed a tension of different sorts. While Lily fulfilled her role as the feminine character, her father did not. Her relationship with him was estranged until they started to lose everything. It was then we were able to make some observations about him. He did not work- that's essentially half of masculinity within this social structure (if not more) gone. He did not provide security (financially), confine her to a feminine role (because he was always absent), nore fulfill any masculine obligations to her life. Consequently, every man that Lily encountered just didn't seem to have the total package she was looking for. The Italian prince looked like a good choice, but he couldn't confine her attention- he wasn't man enough. The second guy to fall into the trap, Percy, could never really be considered as an option because in all reality, he was being controlled by his mother-- which is neat because this actually mirrors one of Edith Wharton's real relationships that ended tragically because of his mother's disapproval. Seldon was such a great choice of a guy because he appreciated her feminine power and beauty. He is fully aware of her power when he says I am just the color you are using for today. But he did not stand a chance because although he embraced her feminine characteristics, Lily is caught between the victorian and modern worlds; therefore, she needs someone who can fulfill both roles- the old masculine and the new masculine. Seldon didn't fulfill his old masculine role completely because he wasn't financially equipped. Rosedale's character, fulfilled both roles of masculinity, but by the time it really started to show, Lily had conceded to losing everything.

You can really start to see a change in gender terms within the time period.