The Story of Ivy · Theme
Wealth and Financial Ruin
How The Story of Ivy develops Wealth and Financial Ruin.
The narrative centers on Ivy and Jervis Lexton's descent from a capital of sixty-eight thousand pounds to near pennilessness, highlighting the precariousness of social standing tied to money and the desperate measures Ivy takes to maintain her lifestyle.
Where it surfaces
- Prologue
Ivy's extravagant spending has depleted Jervis's capital, and the characters discuss the precariousness of wealth and the pursuit of money.
- I
Ivy and Jervis Lexton have fallen from a capital of sixty-eight thousand pounds to near pennilessness, living in shabby lodgings with only a pound and some silver.
- II
The Lextons are 'stony-broke,' living in a shabby Pimlico house, while Rushworth's millionaire status offers a potential escape.
- III
Rushworth's immense wealth is displayed through his yacht and extravagant gifts, contrasting with Ivy's financial struggles and Jervis's idleness.
- XVII
Finch argues that money corrupts and can buy silence, linking wealth to the cover-up of the crime.