Contrast and Imagery and Symbolism...OH MY!!!

I've made it to the end of Book I of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.  A lot has happened in the last several chapters.  In particular, there have been many twists and turns in Selden's relationship with Lily.  One particular passage, when they meet at the Brys' party, caught my attention. In the passage, Wharton creatively uses nature to reflect many aspects of her story. "She hardly noticed where Selden was leading her, till they passed through a glass doorway at the end of the long suite of rooms and stood suddenly in the fragrant hush of a garden.  Gravel grated beneath their feet, and about them was the trasparent dimness of a midsummer night.  Hanging lights made emerald caverns in the depths of foliage, and whitened the spray of a fountain falling among lilies.  The magic place was deserted: there was no sound but the plash of the water on the lily-pads..." (p 111).  I noticed several important things in this passage.  First, the words in bold are Wharton's uses of imagery in the passage.  Her use of imagery makes her use of nature very engaging and pulls the reader into the story, letting him no that something significant is about to happen and letting them vicariously experience to a certain extent the romantic setting of the scene.  Second, I noticed that nature is a stark contrast against the ornate, and sometimes flamboyant or fake aspects of the upper class settings Lily normally inhabits.  This is made especially clear by the sudden transition from the scene of the Bry's party in this passage.  This use of nature seems to come up frequently when the paths of Selden and Lily cross (remember their walk near the beginning of the story)I believe this is because Wharton uses nature as a symbol of Selden and his influence on Lily.  While the upper class society portrayed in much of the book is fake, flamboyant, and full of controversy, nature is simple, completely real, yet beautiful and satisfying.  In the same way Selden's ideals of  happiness, knowledge, and a simple unstressed life are satisfying and important, yet Lily's values of wealth and social standing are relative, and ultimately unsatisfying as well as unimportant.    In these ways, Lily fits in with the luxurious upper class setting and Selden fits in with nature.  By understanding these literary tools, one receives insights into Lily and Selden's relationship and could begin to see the difference between what Lily chooses and what she loses by denying Selden.