Every woman in the world wants to rise in her social status and Undine like millions of others wanted the same in her life. Trying hard and struggling for the necessities of life was a tough path so she decided to take a shortcut and thus marries a wealthy man. The first step she took to achieve what she desired was to take her family to the colorful city of New York. She forced her family in such a way that the parents were unable to stand against her reasoning.
Right after their landing in New York Undine had one mission in mind i.e to get mixed in the high class of the city. For this purpose, she started making connections with the upper class through parties and social gatherings. The plan appeared to be working for several months but then she started to see what she was losing in the process. Her husband the highly respectable and rich man was just slipping away from her hands and it was because of her thoughts that she inculcated in his mind.
Edith Wharton tries to tell society what is more important than wealth and high status. Even those with a lot of material wealth could be dissatisfied at times in their lives like the characters we observed in The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. Undine never thought of this before until she lost much in life. This is not a very complex novel which Barbara Caruso narrates as no one is stabling Undine in the back; all the changes entering her life are because of her doings.
