Newland knows his duty. Book II of The Age of Innocence begins with May marrying Newland as New York society watches. As for material objects like fashion and furniture, each object bears a significant relationship to its owner. The first of these is the complex nature of the narration. This profound sense of irony leads, inevitably, to the question of Wharton's choice of title. "Her incapacity to recognize change made her children conceal their views from her . from your Reading List will also remove any A few stylistic notes must be mentioned regarding The Age of Innocence. . Despite his supposedly cosmopolitan attitudes, he believes that a love affair with Ellen would be tolerated, an attitude showing his lack of realism. Until Ellen's farewell dinner, he does not even know that his entire family has plotted and planned without him, leaving him intentionally ignorant of their machinations.

Of all the characters in the novel, she is perhaps the least naïve, forcing the reader to wonder how much of her knowledge is based on Wharton's life as an adult living in Paris. He abruptly leaves the carriage and walks home. To what extent is the era of Old New York truly an "Age of Innocence"?

And of course, Ellen and Archer's decision not to consummate their love is based largely on their fear of hurting the family. Hypocrisy runs rampant in Old New York. Startled, May tells him that if there is "someone else," he may have his freedom. The upstanding families who so eagerly attend Julius Beaufort's balls, who depend on his lavish hospitality as the center of their social activities, are the same ones who continually disdain his "commonness" and who will mercilessly exile him following his business collapse.

By reading Wharton's close-up descriptions of May's gestures, looks, and offhand comments, it is possible to construct a more complex portrait of her. As young Newland Archer, lawyer and man about town, gazes up at his soon-to-be fiancé, May Welland, in the Mingott-family opera box, he is disconcerted by the arrival of May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, who has left her profligate but wealthy Polish husband. By August, a year later, Newland and May have settled into a fashionable if boring life in New York, living in a wealthy part of town and spending summers with the rest of the rich in Newport. Even on her honeymoon, her attitude toward all things European is to ignore, be critical, or avoid them. In a society where personal wealth is gratuitously displayed, each object reflects the economic status of the owner. Ellen begins the novel naïvely, thinking that New Yorkers will welcome her and seeing them as the harmless, innocent youngsters of her childhood. All rights reserved.

On a more sophisticated level, these objects indicate the personality of the owner: his or her tastes, interests, and values. Yet for the dishonesty of Larry Lefferts, there is the purity of May Welland, a character brought up to remain innocent (or at least to resolutely feign ignorance) of the corruption that surrounds her. and any corresponding bookmarks? In The Age of Innocence, this established order most often takes its most concrete form as the family. Even New York City in the 1870s is a society of innocence.

Newland has not seen her in 26 years.

from your Reading List will also remove any Book II of The Age of Innocence begins with May marrying Newland as New York society watches.

As is typical with a gifted writer like Wharton, there is no single answer. Ellen promises to stay in America only if they do not hurt May with a clandestine affair.

He never realizes until the end that his wife has known about his sacrifice all along; even after her death he has cultivated the viewpoint that she was ignorant of real life from beginning to end. And in fact, the reader sees two central characters, May Welland and Ellen Olenska, primarily through Archer's eyes. That evening outside the Countess' apartment, Newland encourages Dallas to go up without him.

She had divorced and moved to a more congenial atmosphere for divorcees: Paris. This more remote narrator often serves to undercut Archer's opinions. Meanwhile, Julius Beaufort's shady financial dealings catch up with him, and his wife, Regina, appeals to Ellen's grandmother for help. Critical Essays The Ironic Title of The Age of Innocence The Age of Innocence is filled with irony about innocence — true innocence, feigned innocence, ironic innocence, and unhappy innocence. Looking back at her childhood, she was critical of a society that kept girls innocent, sheltered, and away from obstacles they might have to solve.

Newland accompanies Dallas to Paris on a business trip, where Dallas tells Newland the Countess Ellen Olenska has invited them to dine. Without delay, the Mingott family enlist the help of ancient social sages, Henry and Louisa van der Luyden, to shore up support by inviting old New York to a dinner it cannot refuse.

© 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Shocked, Newland intends to later follow Ellen. As far as behaviors and gestures are concerned, a raised eyebrow or a meaningful glance can communicate a tacit understanding, a carefully concealed passion, or a politely expressed disbelief. In the second chapter of the book, Archer is expected, despite his initial unwillingness to associate with the scandal-garnering Countess Olenska, to enter the Mingott family's opera box in order to support their decision to bring the Countess out in public. Ostensibly, this duty to the family and to society ensures that each individual will behave according to a strict code of morality. As he confesses his love to Ellen, a telegram arrives from May, saying that they can be married in a month. By the time she wrote this book, Edith Wharton had survived an unhappy 25-year marriage, ignoring her husband's affairs and business improprieties. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Age of Innocence and what it means. Another of her large themes is that appearances are seldom synonymous with realities. The next day Newland visits the Countess' small house in a Bohemian section of town. To discourage gossip, Newland decides to announce his and May's engagement at the Beaufort's ball that night. In Newland's memory, their love stays forever young, perfect and unchanging over time. In an ironic twist of this theme, Old New York assumes that Ellen and Archer are in the midst of a torrid affair, when in reality, they decide to part rather than to hurt those they care about.

At many points throughout the book, both Archer and Ellen Olenska are expected to sacrifice their desires and opinions in order not to upset the established order of things. Detailed descriptions are frequent and can include obscure references, yet each has a crucial significance. Later in the novel, when Ellen wishes to reclaim her freedom by divorcing her philandering husband, she is discouraged from this action because the family fears unpleasant gossip.

That night as he and May retire, she announces that she thought she was pregnant and told Ellen earlier, before she was really sure. Visit BN.com to buy new and used textbooks, and check out our award-winning NOOK tablets and eReaders. And on a larger level, Old New York itself is an innocent society, one so immersed in the minutiae of its social codes that it could not begin to imagine the chaos and destruction that would come with the twentieth century. However, Wharton is quick to demonstrate how easy it is to find loopholes in this code. It worries about its social code — wedding details, the season, rituals, and rules — passing its time in total ignorance of what is to come.

When Newland speaks with Ellen — a passionate and exotic woman, unlike his quiet, innocent May — he finds himself falling in love with her, despite his engagement. Newland Archer has been raised into a world where manners and moral codes dictate how the individual will act, and in some cases, even think. and any corresponding bookmarks? Not having been taught the rules of the game, she stretches the tolerance of New Yorkers, eventually forcing her exit. Removing #book# This is an age of innocence for a society — existing in its own niggling concerns — that cannot conceive of the devastating war that will change all life and history, and sweep away this innocence forever. May has recently died of pneumonia, nursing a third child to health. Next In this way they introduce the exotic Countess, and she finds New York society charmingly narrow and provincial compared to Paris.

Newland, while seemingly in charge of his world as well as the narrative, is actually one of the more naïve characters in the story. Kept innocent and naïve, she has never known passion — nor is she supposed to know it until her husband introduces her to it. Undaunted, the next day Newland meets Ellen at the Metropolitan Museum, where she finally agrees to a future one-time affair. Removing #book# Wharton's life, the Gilded Age of the novel, and the characters all contribute to the irony of the novel's title. The supreme example of this is the farewell dinner for the Countess, a dinner that seems innocently gracious and honorable on the surface but which hides rigid assertiveness in enforcing the social order.

Elated but guilty, Newland decides to confess all to May, but she interrupts to tell him that Ellen is leaving for Europe and the Archers will give a farewell dinner for her. bookmarked pages associated with this title. The Age of Innocence is filled with irony about innocence — true innocence, feigned innocence, ironic innocence, and unhappy innocence. As a result, much of the criticism of that society is comprised of his opinions. Dallas confides to his father May's deathbed confession that Newland sacrificed the one thing he loved because of duty and honor. He finds her drawing room exotic and her friendship with shady financier Julius Beaufort unsettling. She has been taught to remain innocent and avoid life's difficulties; throughout her marriage she pretends not to know about Newland's passion for Ellen. It is a January evening in 1870s New York City and the fashionable are attending the opera. Ellen refuses, knowing that will hurt May. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. Certainly her descriptions of the hypocrisy lead the reader to question this supposed innocence, for there is without a doubt decay lurking beneath the surface of this gilded age. a kind of innocent family hypocrisy." Previous

One of the individual's foremost duties is to promote and protect the solidarity of his tightly knit group of blood and marital relationships. The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton.It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine Pictorial Review.Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Appleton & Company.It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. For example, although Archer's opinions of May lead us to believe that she is an innocent and hollow person, there are several indications that Archer does not realize his wife's depth. Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Quickly, because she has lived in a less dissembling culture, she learns that beneath the surface are cruelty, judgment, and hypocrisy. Worried by temptation, Newland flees to Florida where May's family is vacationing and asks May to move the wedding date up.