In the next chapters of Book 2, I find irony woven through almost every page. From the beginning of the novel, the audience quickly learns of Lily Bart's sick obsession and earnest desire to accumulate as much money as possible. Lily repeatedly mentions how she must never be dingy. Miss Bart's upbringing has led her to truly believe that being poor is the ultimate sign of disgrace. Now, Lilly is completely alone in the world struggling to not become the poor, dingy girl that she has spend every waking moment aiming not to be. I find how Lily's "money over morals" attitude has gotten her nowhere to be ironic. Buried in debt, alone, and kicked out of her social circle, Lily later learns that her own, recently passed, aunt has left her nothing in comparison to her other family members. Lily, completely alone, is disliked even by those who once admired her. "No one looked at her, no one seemed aware of her presence; she was probing the very depths of insignificance" (Wharton, 180). Now, not even Lily's beauty, a characteristic that she has always used to benefit her, cannot save her. Also, I find it ironic that the only person willing to be friends with Lily is Gerty Farnish, who, at the beginning, was an object of ridicule to Miss Bart. I don't think Lily will ever fully recover from her destroyed reputation due to her numerous schemes and plots over the one things she yearns for the most, but does have: money.
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