Lily
... In Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth”, while the use of metaphors isn’t particularly significant, there is one metaphor that stares the reader right in the face throughout the entire book and is rarely noticed: “Lily.” Who is Lily? Lily is the story’s protagonist, a woman who was born into the rich social circles of New York but who has since found difficulty affording the extravagant lifestyle she desires. What is a lily? A lily is a beautiful spring flower, an emblem of femininity and ornamentation, meant to simply serve decorative purposes. Incidentally, the lily is also the flower of death, and thus fits its namesake, Lily Bart, well. The similarities between Lily Bart and “lily” the flower are striking, and grow more and more distinctive as the story progresses. Wharton very cleverly uses this metaphor to develop Lily’s character and to ensure her overall ambiguity throughout the novel. The likeness of Lily the character and “lily” the flower is first seen when the reader learns of Lily’s family situation when she was a child. Here, the flowers are referred to specifically when Lily states, “ I really think, mother, we might afford a few fresh flowers for luncheon.