Age of Innocence Essay

The Age of Innocence is a story with the happiest of endings. Newland Archer’s struggle between passion and practicality, between Countess Ellen Olenska and May Welland, comes to an epic conclusion, confronting the effects of duty, marriage, promises, priorities, society, and lust. Newland and May are engaged when Newland first meets Ellen, May’s cousin, who stirs up their New York society with her dramatic clothing and loose lifestyle. May is considerably plain when compared to her cousin, and

The Age of Innocence, there are a lot of issues dealt with that involves love, affairs, and reputation. In this novel the act of innocence quickly dies in society. Edith Wharton creates a tragedy in which innocence becomes a thing in the past. The novel takes place in New York City in the 1870’s where society revolves around who can go to the opera, who wore the most expensive gown, and who can stick to their plan the best. Innocence in the society the novel was written about and innocence in today’s

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

Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence can be interpreted in a variety of ways; it is both an analysis of a prelapsarian aristocracy and a narrative recounting a man’s struggle to balance passion with moral conformity. Under a sociological lens, the motif of innocence within The Age of Innocence can be used to explore the conflict of interests between New York high society and an individualist ideology in the midst of social change. The novel begins with a joint description of the protagonist, Newland

by societal standards mandating “ladylike” and “proper” actions. Misogyny disables females to fight for themselves and speak what is truly on their minds, and therefore women must turn to other means to achieve their goals. Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence explores the story of Newland Archer, Ellen Olenska and May Welland amongst all of these societal rules and double standards. As, Newland and Ellen’s love story heats up, May Welland focuses on safeguarding her own engagement with Newland, but

lthough one may think that residing comfortably near to the top of the Manhattan social pyramid guarantees inclusion, the protagonist of Edith Wharton’s Age Of Innocence, Newland Archer, comes to find himself on the psychological fringe despite his wealth and lofty familial status, isolated by the unique attitudes about life and love he develops after falling for Ellen Olenska. By presenting Newland’s emotional defeat at the end of the novel, despite his conscious attempt to diverge from societal

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

The truth that lies behind fantasies The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a book that gave the word “love” many other meanings, such as impossible, meaningless and incomplete. There were many unbearable obstacles that Countess Ellen Olenska, one of the main characters, had to face because of love. She was treated badly by many people and always longed for love but never obtained it. With everyone cursing her, betraying her and hurting her, there was one person who was always there for her

and Innocence in The Age of Innocence………………………… |6 | |2.1 Ellen’s Individualistic Qualities………………………………………… |7 | |2.2 May’s Artificial Innocence………………………………………………

Olenska heeds Emerson’s call by evading the jaws that so mercilessly snare personal autonomy and individuality, daring to be so brave as to don outlandish attire and journey beyond the coercion of ballrooms and the chains of convention. In The Age of Innocence, the "Josephine look," is depicted as “[a] headdress… [which] [was] carried out in the cut of the dark blue velvet gown [that] rather theatrically caught up under [the] bosom by a girdle with a large old-fashioned clasp” was a style named after