The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, tells the story of Lily Bart, a 29-year-old beauty living among New York's upper class. Lily's primary goal in life is to find a husband who can relieve the financial hardship she has endured since her childhood years as an orphan. Though unlike the women who ...

Introduction Social stratification is a recurring theme in many great works of literature. Social stratification can be defined as a "hierarchical ranking of groups (that is) based on the unequal distribution of societal resources and positions" (The University of Texas at Dallas). Thro...