Wharton's Sacrifice

To illustrate the nature in which New York applies these silences, Wharton introduces a female character that symbolizes all the ideas and innovations that New York feared most.

Ma's character change is an important part of the novel, because while the men in the novel tend to see life in short little spurts, the women see life as a never-ending circle, and they understand life must go on, no matter what. The sudden change in Ma's nature shows early signs of the soon to be womens suffrage.

Her husband acted the same way Mattie did for Ethan after the crash. He was always going to be reminded of what they would have been if they had made it out of their sad lonely town. Wharton saw her husband as, “Like Frome, Edith Wharton was manacled to the merest ghost of a mate: every superficial pleasure in her marriage had been lost, and nothing remained except the crude and brutal armature of dependency upon which it had been founded.” This is a great representation of what Zeena and Ethan are to each other and will always be like this due to what had happened to Mattie. And I say, if she'd ha' died, Ethan might ha' lived; and the way they are now, I don't see's there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard; 'cept that down there they're all quiet, and the women have got to hold their tongues." Nothing more than empty shells of what they had promised each other that they could have been outside of so citable means. This last and final topic has granted me some clarity as to what limitations were placed on female writers during this

In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, both authors introduce female protagonists that are confined by men’s authority. By displaying the protagonist's transformation, Glaspell and Faulkner highlight the repercussions of gender roles, to show that when women are trapped, they will go to great lengths to retaliate against their oppressors.

Women have played an important role in American literature. Unfortunately, this role was often negative, without cause to be so. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby are examples of American literature in which women are needlessly vilified.

To first establish the different philosophies of Lily and Selden, Wharton titles the novel with a reference to the Bible which condemns frivolous living, and describes Selden’s views relative to two

Edith Wharton’s Atrophy is a centred around protagonist Nora Frenway, who is faced with several difficulties on her journey to see her ill, clandestine lover Christopher at Westover. The story is written in third person narration, where it was first published in 1927. The Sound and the Fury (1929) by William Faulkner is a novel told in four sections about the affairs regarding the Compson family. In this novel the first three sections focus on the consciousness of each of the brothers in the novel; Benjy, Quentin and Jason. The fourth section is told in third person narration highlighting the experiences of the family servant Dilsey. In each section of this novel each person has some fragment of their own version of the truth, while Caddy, the sister and daughter of the Compson family is a central female figure in the novel. Thus, in both texts there are issues that arise such as race relations and gender inequality, due to this, there is always an effect on relationships and events in the novel. During the time these texts were written there were issues regarding women and equality, and the society was governed by patriarchal thought and influence. Women were seen as lesser to men and they had to attend to household duties and obey the societal rules. Other issues such as class and status were also factors in regard to how women were expected to behave. Both authors effectively capture gender differently showing how the effect of gender ideologies impacted relationships and

In the novel Daisy Buchanan is one example of the woman that was criticized in the novel by her actions,decisions and values that wasn’t traditional and

Edith Wharton is “well-known for her portrayal of the moneyed classes of the old New York” in her writings, stories, and novels. The story The Other Two is not the exception. In this story, she portrays what it was to be a woman or what society and men expected them to be. “The point of view in The Other Two is omniscient, although very closely identified with its center of consciousness in Waythorn” (Lewis). Because the story is told from Mr. Waythorn’s point of view, the reader can see the sarcasm and comic side that Wharton likes to use. She describes through this writing style what was the most important thing a woman could offer to society in that time, which was looks and appearances. The Other Two shows the importance that society

The purpose of this Extended Essay is to challenge the general categorization of male as heroes in novels through one of Edith Wharton’s best novels by examining the question “How does Edith Wharton manifest the role of May Welland and Ellen Olenska in foreshadowing the plot of The Age of Innocence?” The scope of this essay encompasses two works; first a critical analysis of the character, May and second, an analysis of the character, Ellen, regarding their roles as foreteller and heroines in the novel. The unique use of Mythology by Wharton as symbols to portray her two leading female characters, in the era of the Gilded Age, is what initially drew me to write an essay on this topic. This essay thus explores Wharton’s use of mythology

There were numerous instances throughout the book in which the men had demeaning opinions towards the women. “She was only a woman. She didn’t understand the needs of a man like

Edith Wharton’s tightly controlled upbringing contributed to her disdain for New York’s society at the time, which in turn directly influenced her descriptions of May and the other women from New York within the novel. Wharton was born on January 24th, 1862 to a rather wealthy New York family, similar to that of the Archer family. Growing up, Wharton was often discouraged from going beyond societal norms and expectations that were in place for women at the time. Wealthy women in New York were not expected to go beyond getting married and having offspring for their families, which limited

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.

During the late 19th century, strict and confining gender roles existed for women throughout the United States. Expectations regarding these gender roles varied based upon the social class in which a woman was born. Edith Wharton in The House of Mirth, explores the lives of women who aspired to be part of New York City’s highest social class. Specifically, the author follows the life of Lily Bart and her quest for acceptance and financial security in high society. Lily Bart intrigues me as I cannot decide if I am more repelled by her, or more sympathetic to her. I expect that Edith Wharton has made Lily not wholly unlikeable on purpose. In doing so, Lily becomes a character whose struggles we care about, during an era which gave women such

Within most narratives involving women, they start with the pursuit of marriage and end with a happily married woman. Within her novels, Edith Wharton works to demonstrate the flaws of this understanding and present a question on the possibility of female happiness. By specifically looking at The House of Mirth, Summer, and The Custom of the Country, exposing Wharton’s stark critique of the nature of women’s involvement within a patriarchal social structure allows us to understand the damaging effects of female gender expectations. Marriage and motherhood become the expected paths for women and consequently, they are punished when they go outside of these expectations. By then placing the possibility for happiness at the center, marriage becomes