Edith Wharton's The Age Of Innocence

Newland Archer evidently holds a predisposition for objectifying Countess Ellen Olenska as well as May Welland. Wharton describes this perception of May on page 6 of the novel as, “he contemplated her absorbed young face with a thrill of possessorship in which pride in his own masculine initiation was

In the novel, “The Age of Innocence” two of the main characters come to be introduced in the first chapter where they are seen at the Opera house. Newland Archer, a well respected lawyer of New York looks across from his box seat to see his newly engaged fiancée May Welland. Sitting next to her, he sees May’s mother and aunt. Next to them he sees a woman who is familiar to him-she is May’s cousin, Ellen Olenska. These two women play important roles throughout the whole novel. There are two different personality types which are displayed in both May and Ellen.

The Age of Innocence, written by Edith Wharton in 1920, is a novel about Newland Archer, set in New York in the 1870s. In the beginning of the novel, Newland is engaged to May Welland, however when her cousin Ellen Olenska returns from Europe, he begins to doubt who he really loves. Due to societal norms, Newland stays with May and never consummates his relationship with Ellen, despite their growing feelings towards each other. At the time of writing The Age of Innocence, Wharton was reading Sir James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough (1914), a 14 volume work on anthropology, which consisted of myths, customs, and magical practices. This collection sparked interest for Wharton, potentially inspiring her to enlist many allusions to classical

“As he entered the box his eyes met Miss Welland’s, and he saw that she had instantly understood his motive, though the family dignity which both considered so high a virtue would not permit her to tell him so. The persons of their world lived in an atmosphere of faint implications and pale delicacies, and the fact that he and she understood each other without a word seemed to the young man to bring them nearer than any explanation would have done.” (Wharton 16) This statement vividly illustrates the power of the unsaid within New York society during the 1870’s, the time in which The Age of Innocence was set. At that time, there existed a powerful set of rules, regulations, and codes pertaining to

In the novel The Age of Innocence, one can immensely sense the distaste that Edith Wharton had for the social code that was infused throughout New York City at a time where the Gilded Age was coming about. Wharton’s personification of different characters throughout the novel reflect her negative sentiments on the ever-rigid culture that enveloped New York City’s atmosphere at the time. Because this novel was written almost fifty years after Wharton was born, she had personal insight on how New York City operated during its period of social transition, from the beginning of the Gilded Age in 1870, to the end of World War I in 1918. In writing The Age of Innocence, Wharton was particularly influenced by her frequent trips to Europe, especially

In Edith Wharton’s novel, The Age of Innocence, the old New York society accepted those who followed moral codes and dreaded hearing those who did not. Growing up in a society that has strict rules and traditions in the 1800’s, Wharton wrote books about this time period and how characters were affected by these societal rules and traditions. Edith Wharton grew up in New York City and spent most her life there. She met her husband, Edward Wharton there and continued writing other novels as well. Later on, she divorced him, but had two men who were significant in her life. Jennifer Bussey and Jennifer Hynes suspect these were her lovers and this moment in her life, with judgement and society against her, this information was put into her novels. Since she is raised in a judgemental society, she “...soon learned manners and traditions of society life that would characterize her fiction” (“Age” 2). As seen in The Age of Innocence, Newland Archer and Ellen Olenska are having an affair, but their ways of thinking and decisions are altered by society. The other characters around them are judgemental and have to follow specific moral codes.

Childhood is largely considered the embodiment of innocence. In both “The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket” by Yasunari Kawabata, and in “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, the author is depicting a childhood experience. Although the stories may have that fact in common, these experiences are of very different meanings. One author describes a child’s experience with love and innocence, and the other describes an experience of innocence being stripped from a child.

“You did love me for a moment; and it helped me. It always helped me. But the moment is gone, it was I who let it go.” (405). Some people believe if you have chemistry with someone, you only need one other thing. Timing. But it's hard to get timing right. However is timing really all that matters? In House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Wharton proposes the question, was Lily Bart and Lawrence Selden’s fate inevitable or could they have prevented it? Other than Timing, different upbringings and miscommunication both were factors that kept Lily and Lawrence apart but also could have brought them back together.

Edith Wharton was the author of The Age of Innocence, a novel published in 1920. In the book, many topics were considered, such as divorce, the empowerment of women, and the lifestyle of the wealthy. The inspiration for these motifs occurred throughout her life. Although Edith Wharton’s work was not well-received, the topics included in her writings held many truths about upper-class society in the late 1800s; therefore, Edith Wharton was influenced by her past and societal experiences.

Through The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton highlights the effects of the harsh demands placed on the elite society, criticizing the image of perfection based off of physical and ideological materialism. Using a synecdoche from the end of the novel, Wharton calls attention to the lasting effects of the constant pressure the New Yorkers feel to be perfect at all times, even if they are facing real life issues. Hiding the truth in order to secure one’s image is more important than confronting your problems, according to them. No matter what happens throughout the book, the motifs, themes, and tones all relate directly back to this end passage, where Newland Archer ultimately decides not to meet up with Ellen Olenska in Paris, after a whole life

Another source said that the novel “was as much about the sexual propriety and financial rectitude of her parents' age as it was about their aversion to the uglier side of life”. (“Wharton, Edith”). I agree with this statement. This novel was about the olden age. It was about how you can look two ways on life. In the novel you got to see two sides of people. One side was a dreamy yet refined

Moreover, Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence" makes us to reflect on the societies of earlier times, about how societies have evolved and about the value of feelings and the choice that each one makes based on a social conditionality. “It was a study of the complex, intimate connections between social cohesion and individual growth”, as Cynthia Griffin Wolff, an expert on the author's work, points out in her introduction, The Age of Innocence is a generous look at the past; with maturity, Wharton seeks to understand the values that guided the society of the United States until World War I, to then welcome the new era that was

Set in the affluent area of New York City in the 1870s, The Age of Innocence, written by Edith Wharton, shows the drama, lies, and deception of the United States wealthiest inhabitants. The story begins as May Welland and Newland Archer are announcing their engagement. But when May's cousin, Countess Olenska, returns from Europe without her husband, Newland begins to fall for her. The Age of Innocence is a story of American despair and failure because the characters are never content, two marriages are torn apart because of affairs, and the characters are too innocent to understand their problems.

New York City’s fierce social class gaps and conventional gender roles of the early 19th century sets the tone for Edith Wharton’s twelfth novel, The Age of Innocence. Newland Archer is introduced as a wealthy, young lawyer and is followed throughout his tense engagement and marriage. Published in 1920, the Pulitzer Prize winning romance novel explores the depths of disunity in New York City. Wharton’s work contradicts the social norms of the era, and it opens up many opportunities for women in society. Wharton exposes the flaws of society in many ways. In The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton illuminates her characters’ weaknesses by examining the historical perspective on upper class New York City and conveying the novel’s meaning through

Innocence and its success in the world are ideas prevalent in stories across the world and throughout history. However, every one of these stories explores the theme of innocence as well as its ability to thrive in distinct fashions and with differing perspectives on its merits. While some storytellers perceive innocence as impractical, a virtue not capable of survival in the ruthless environments in which it struggles to overcome evil, others regard innocence as honorable, an attribute that can prevail over the evil with which it engages in battle. While House of Cards takes a more cynical perspective on the merits of innocence, regarding it as unable to triumph in a world as amoral as that in which House of Cards is staged, the Odyssey illustrates innocence with a more optimistic attitude, depicting it as a value that can overcome the evil in the world that it faces.