Nature, in the form of the Arctic tundra of the North Pole or the bustling street life of Manhattan, was seen by nature writers as a phenomenon that necessarily put a strain on survival individual ; a phenomenon, moreover, that functioned according to Darwin's maxim of "survival of the fittest." This contrasted sharply with the Romantic view, which worshiped nature for its beauty, beneficence, and self-liberating powers. In Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, Lily Bart attempts to "survive" in the urban "parlor" society in which she lives. Although Selden uses romantic naturalistic imagery to describe Lily, throughout the novel such romantic imagery and the meanings that accompany it are continually subverted. By simply invoking different understandings and visions of "Nature," Wharton demonstrates that not only is Lily's ability to "adapt" to various environments not necessarily healthy, but also that flower imagery, used ironically, perfectly captures the need to Lily of "Luxury Climates." It is Wharton's image of a "greenhouse", however, that ultimately captures the ambiguous nature of what, for Wharton, truly is Nature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayLily, although she lives in the city, is described by Selden as a person intimately connected with a benevolent and life-giving Nature. He exclaims: "The attitude revealed the long slope of her slender hips, which gave her profile a kind of wild grace, as if she were a dryad captured and subjected to the conventions of the drawing room" (13). Selden's notion of Lily's "sylvan freedom" and her interconnectedness with all things "natural" is echoed later in the novel, when Lily is described or compared to a "rose" (167) or an "orchid" (150 ). , an "aquatic plant" (53) and a "fine flower" (216). Even its name, "Lily", like the type of flower, refers to nature and natural things. Thus a superficial reading of such material would suggest that Lily, despite her urban status, manages to maintain a spiritual connection with Mother Nature, a connection, unfortunately, restrained and "subdued" by "living room conventions." It could be argued, therefore, that Wharton sees the industrial city as an obstacle that prevents Lily from understanding and experiencing her "true self", that is, that "self" present in a state of nature. We will quickly see, however, that Wharton does not always share Selden's Romantic view of nature. Throughout The House of Mirth we witness Lily's ability to "adapt" (53) to whatever environment she enters. Wharton writes, “Selden noted the subtle nuances of ways in which he harmonized with his surroundings” (192) and describes, “His faculty of renewing himself in new scenes and of eliminating problems of conduct as easily as in the environment in which they find themselves". had arisen” (196). This ability is seen most clearly when Lily is forced, against her will, into the "Gormer environment" (234). Although she does not like this "environment", it is through "her immense social facility, her long habit of adapting to others without suffering her own contours being blurred, the skillful manipulation of all the refined tools of her trade" that she wins "an important place in the Gormer group" (237). This "adaptability", which apparently parallels Darwin's notion that biological species must adapt to environmental changes to survive, does not actually contribute to Lily's survival. Nor does it allow her to maintain any kind of "spiritual connection" with Nature. Rather its effect is exactly the opposite. Wharton writes, "(Lily's) faculty ofadapt? It served her from time to time in small contingencies", but ultimately "hindered her in the decisive moments of life. It was like a water plant in the tide flow" (53). in describing Lily, he used Nature to represent a kind of benevolent and self-liberating phenomenon, Wharton uses Nature in this case to represent a ruthless and reckless Darwinian process in which only the strong survive. Although Lily is still described in terms of "natural" images " (an "aquatic plant"), its connection with Nature is no longer liberating or renewing of life, but rather serves, as Wharton tells us, "to hinder it in the decisive moments". moments of life" (53). So in this case the character of Nature is altered, which in turn changes how we can interpret the "naturalistic" imagery used to describe Lily as an "aquatic plant", instead of being spiritually rewarding, it turns out instead ultimately unhealthy. Although Lily has, as we have seen, adaptive powers, Wharton makes it clear that such powers, in addition to not always being healthy or beneficial, are actually quite limited in scope. Even if Lily manages to survive for a while outside her high-society "living rooms", she is inexorably drawn to them, like a swimmer rising for water. Wharton tells us, "(Lily's) whole being expanded in an atmosphere of luxury, it was the background she needed, the only climate she could breathe" (26). We see once again how the meaning of “Nature” has been completely transformed. Unlike Selden's vision of "Nature", which believed that the actual physical environment was the key to Lily's well-being and self-liberation, in this case "Nature" has nothing to do with pastoral and idyllic environments, but instead refers to "drawing -rooms." But similarly to Selden's vision of Nature, we see that Nature (in this case, life in the living rooms) is absolutely necessary for Lily's continued existence. It is what gives her life and allows her to breathe. As Selden tells Lily, "Your lungs think of air, if you don't. And so it is with your rich people: they may not think of money, but they breathe it in all the time" 69). However, Wharton not only completely transforms the meaning of Nature (again), but also ironically draws on Romantic imagery of nature to complete this transformation. Wharton states, "(Lily) could not imagine herself anywhere but in a drawing room, spreading elegance like the scent of a flower shed" (100). The phrase "as the scent of a flower falls" accurately captures the irony that Wharton sees in using romantic images of nature (i.e. flowers) in the context of her version of Nature, that of the drawing rooms. To say that a "flower shed perfume" connotes the image of a flower that gives off an odor, an odor that is then bottled and transformed into a "perfume", a perfume that is then used by high society ladies to have a good scent. Thus Wharton, by choosing to describe Lily as a "flower", reinforces the idea that Lily's "Nature", her "natural habitat" was that of the living room. But because she is a "flower" that exudes "perfume," Wharton captures the double meaning existing in such a symbol, showing that not only was Lily's "natural habitat" the living room, but also highlighting the irony of "Nature " by Lily. ." Wharton demonstrates that Lily's supposed "Nature" is a world in which flowers do not diffuse natural "perfumes" or "smells" but rather smell like artificial bottled "perfume," ironic, of course, because "perfume" does not is commonly thought The latest, and most.