# Wealth and Financial Ruin in The Story of Ivy

> Theme guide for The Story of Ivy by Marie Belloc Lowndes.

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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters/prologue): Ivy's extravagant spending has depleted Jervis's capital, and the characters discuss the precariousness of wealth and the pursuit of money.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters/ii): The Lextons are 'stony-broke,' living in a shabby Pimlico house, while Rushworth's millionaire status offers a potential escape.
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters/iii): Rushworth's immense wealth is displayed through his yacht and extravagant gifts, contrasting with Ivy's financial struggles and Jervis's idleness.
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters/xvii): Finch argues that money corrupts and can buy silence, linking wealth to the cover-up of the crime.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/themes/wealth_and_financial_ruin
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/themes