Was Lily Bart Suicidal? | (2024)

Wharton’sHouse of Mirthends tragically, with Lily’s seemingly accidental overdose on chloral hydrate even as she plans ahead to her next day. The novel ends with Selden, appearing to finally piece together the truest representation of Lily’s reputation throughout the novel. Though he, Gerty, and the medical examiner all presume that Lily’s death is accidental, I would argue that this is not the case. On the surface, it seems as though Lily intends to reach her next day, but there are many signs throughout the novel that perhaps signal suicidal tendencies – whether conscious or not – that, if anything, mark the novel’s end as all the more tragic.

Before providing evidence that Lily’s behavior suggests suicidal thoughts and acts, there must first be some understanding of what signs and symptoms we may correctly identify as worrisome. The Mayo Cliniclists multiple signs of a suicidal thoughts in an adult person, some of the most pertinent of which include:

• Withdrawing from social contact and wanting to be left alone
• Having mood swings (i.e. feeling happy one day, and deeply discouraged the next)
• Being preoccupied with death, dying, or violence
• Feeling trapped or hopeless about a situation
• Increasing use of alcohol or drugs
• Changing normal routines, including eating or sleeping patterns
• Doing risky or self-destructive things, such as using drugs
• Giving away belongings or getting affairs in order when there’s no other logical explanation for doing so
• Saying goodbye to people as if they won’t be seen again

Upon first read, it seems slightly preposterous to presume that Lily demonstrates any of these suicidal tendencies. In her final moments after taking a higher dose of the chloral, Lily seems to have the will to live on another day, thinking to herself that “tomorrow would not be so difficult after all: she felt sure that she would have the strength to meet it” (314). Furthermore, her loneliness – perhaps one of the most pervasive emotions with which Lily struggles throughout her descent in social status – seems to vanish with this newfound determination, and Lily remarks that “she had felt herself alone, and now the sense of loneliness had vanished,” though we later come to understand that feeling is heightened by the vision of Nettie Struther’s child laying in her arms. However, if we read further into this scene, it seems that even in her certainty in reaching tomorrow, she demonstrates suicidal tendencies; her mood changes rather drastically from the time she steps inside and felt that “the clutch of solitude [was] at her heart, the sense of being swept like a stray uprooted growth down the heedless current of the years… the feeling of being something rootless and ephemeral… she saw there had never been a time when she had had any real relation to life” (310) to her mood after taking the drug, in which she “had been unhappy, and now she was happy” (314).

Furthermore, her need to use the drug is problematic based on the aforementioned symptoms, demonstrating both an “increasing use of drugs” as well as “doing risky or self-destructive things.” Numerous times, Lily reflects upon the pharmacist’s warning on avoiding a higher dosage of chloral; see the initial encounter with the pharmacist on pages 280-281, where the clerk “paused” in handing Lily the bottle and remarks that she “do[es]n’t want to increase the dose,” and Lily reacts by internally questioning what he “mean[t] by looking at her in that way” (280). Though she does not evidently exhibit suicidal symptoms to the reader’s eye, something must strike the clerk as odd, and Lily internally panics, “dread[ing]… he should question her, or keep the bottle back” (281). Her earlier meeting with Gerty, and her later meeting with Rosedale both hint to the reader the damaged, listless physical state of Lily; Rosedale remarks that Lily looks “throughly played out” (283), while Gerty lets the reader know that Lily looks “horribly tired” and is sure that “she must be ill,” hinting even at her paleness by commenting that Lily’s cheeks “grew pink all of a sudden” (258-259). The chloral is not the only drug Lily falls back on in her spiral; constantly, we see her addiction to tea and its caffeine content which she consistently remarks as a beverage which “restored her usual clearness of mind” (282) even as it disrupts her sleeping patterns further. Her other addiction is evident in her meeting with Gerty; when Gerty expresses concern at Lily drinking too much tea, she notes that Lily’s voice takes “a dangerous edge,” and that Lily’s hand “shook as she held it out to receive the second cup” (258). The balance between her high-consumption of tea and her nightly consumption of chloral constantly appears as a battle; on days where she drinks too much tea, Lily goes without sleep and without using the chloral.

The pharmacist doesn’t seem wrong in fearing for Lily’s life; when Gerty meets with Selden to convince him to help Lily, she offers particularly revealing concern for Lily, stating that:

“But now all the things she cared for have been taken from her, and all the people who taught her to care for them have abandoned her too; and it seems to me that ifsome one could reach out a hand and show her the other side – show her how much is left in life and in herself -” (263)

Clearly, Gerty expresses some concern that Lily might be in danger of taking her own life. The suggestion that Lily needs someone to, essentially, remind her “how much is left in life and in herself” and provide her reasons to live stretch far past Gerty’s concerns that she simply cannot cope with her declining social status and finances. Lily’s behavior from this point in the novel to her death seem to correlate this concern; not only is she addicted to drugs and no longer sleeping, she has withdrawn from social contact both by force and by her own account. We are already aware that Lily has been removed from her social circles, and continues to be expelled or leave those lower circles which she joins, such as the Gomers, Mrs. Hatch, and the hat-makers. Later, Lily notes that, after walking in a room filled with girls and women gossiping and consuming tea and pie, she “has lost the sense of time, and it seemed to her as though she had not spoken to any one for days” (294). However, Lily also pushes away social contact, and notes that she has isolated herself from her dearest friend, Gerty, because “she could not go to Gerty’s without risk of meeting Selden; and to meet him now would be pure pain” (286). This fear of meeting Selden is a significant trigger of her drug abuse and loneliness; his misunderstandings of her and subsequent treatment haunt her at night, and Lily notes that her “obsession of his presence” at night was “one of the reasons why she had turned again to [chloral],” for in her dreams Selden came “in the old guise of fellowship and tenderness; and she would rise from the sweet delusion mocked and emptied of her courage… with an obliterated past” (287). In this moment, Lily begins to demonstrate significant hopelessness; she even goes so far as to claim that she “could not count on her continuity of purpose,” and was “frightened… [by] the thought that she might gradually accommodate herself to remaining indefinitely in Trenor’s debt” (287-288), marking her hopeless to the situations which she felt she could not escape. While there are still hints at this point that Lily wants to live – she spends a paragraph briefly considering opening her own hatshop, only to find herself discouraged by the length of time such an endeavor would take to allow her to repay her debt (287). Her hopelessness is as pervasive as her loneliness, and it seems to be one of those final emotions which clearly demonstrates her as suicidal.

Perhaps the most concerning sign and biggest clue of Lily’s suicidal thoughts – however aware she may have been of them – comes with her need to set her affairs in order. Her incessant desire to pay back Gus is only one aspect in which this occurs; we also see Lily “come to a final decision” about Bertha’s letters, and though it seems as if she initially intends to put them to use, she passes Selden’s apartment and is reminded of his kindness and decides to burn them, thus setting these affairs aside. Her final moments with Selden are particularly revealing and concerning, too, in that she tells both him and her “old” self goodbye. In one compelling passages, Lily seems to express her farewells:

“I must go… But I may not see you again for a long time, and I wanted to tel you that I have never forgotten the things you said to me at Bellomont, and that sometimes – somethings when I seemed farthest from remembering them – they have helped me, and kept me from mistakes; kept me from really becoming what many people have thought me… That is what you did for me – that is what I wanted to thank you for. I wanted to tell you that I have always remembered; and that I have tried – tried hard…” (299-300).

Lily’s farewell seems to indicate that she has given up; her attempt at saying she has “tried hard” seems particularly impactful considering is not long after this visit that she overdoses, whether we believe it to be as intentional as it seems. Admittedly, Lily herself seems unsure of the severity in her own declarations; she states later to Selden that “one must go on living,” only to follow this statement up with a curt “goodbye” only a moment later (301). Selden attempts to convince Lily against her speech, stating ambiguously that he “cannot let you go without knowing what you mean to do,” as though he, too, now suspects her suicidal thoughts. “Things may change,” Selden continues, “but they don’t pass. You can never go out of my life” (301). Lily’s only response to this plea is that they should “always be friends. Then [she] shall feel safe, whatever happens,” again seemingly implying her concerning plan of overdosing. Before overdosing, Lily remembers again “the chemist’s warning against increasing the dose,” (303), but also notes that “the chloral was the only spot of light in the dark…; she could feel its lulling influence stealing over her already, but was troubled by the thought that it was losing its power” (303). Likely, Lily’s concern arose because, as she states earlier, “the only hope of renewal lay in the little bottle at her bed-side” (288), where she first notes her concern on “how much longer that hope would last” (288). The chloral’s ineffectiveness and the last of her debts becoming settled once she receives her ten-thousand dollar legacy check seem to be the final straw; before she takes her too-strong dose, she takes the time to set her balance straight, ensure her bills are paid, and leave both her check to the bank and a check for Gus out on the night table. Though Lily lays down with intentions to reach the name day, it is evident her actions and behavior say otherwise, and as her affairs finally lay settled and in order: letters burned, debts paid, and Selden left with a goodbye, Lily seems to take her own live and escape the loneliness that was the true weight she could not bear, making Wharton’sHouse of Mirthall the more effortlessly tragic.