House of Mirth Lesson Plan

How is Selden’s definition of success as freedom from everything reflected in his personality and/or actions?

Lily looks at money as this great bearer of "freedom to": freedom to travel, to dress in elegant clothes, to eat sumptuous foods. But Selden feels that true liberty is "freedom from": from want, from guilt, from dependence.

Selden makes enough money to be comfortable, works for his income, and he does not covet things he cannot afford. Similarly, he has relationships with women, but is not married, and is not willing or able to change his lifestyle to become the kind of person that someone like Lily would be able to marry. He is not ostentatious, but he also...