How Does Wharton Use Sight In The Age Of Innocence

In the novel The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, sight plays a very important role to the overall development of the book. Wharton uses sight in two different ways: to represent the nativity and ignorance of people as well as to show how the main characters chose to reflect upon their experiences. This novel reflects the innocence of Newland’s character although he doesn’t realise it until the end and how his ignorance has impacted the experience of those around him. In this book, sight and experience is used to demonstrate that it’s better to be ignorant than to be hurt by the truth.

In this book, Wharton uses many metaphors comparing sight to the ignorance of people. “the Kentucky cave-fish which had ceased to develop eyes because …show more content…
The reason Newland is disappointed in her is because her newly enlightened more aware self went back to her childish state of naivtivity after he answers that he wasn’t having an affair. “‘When she asked you to, you’d given up the thing you most wanted’... his eyes remained unseeingly fixed…’she never asked me’” (296). At the end of the novel, it is revealed to Newland that May knew about his affair with Madame Olenska the entire time. This quote reflects that Newland is the one who is truly innocent because he was blind to the fact that she actually knew about the affair. His ignorance that he is smarter than everyone backfired on himself and it was he who was unaware to the knowledge May and everyone else had. Overall, the author uses sight to show the ignorance of people who are unaware of what is truly going on in the world surrounding …show more content…
“He did not want May to have that kind of innocence… that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience” (122). In context, when Newland was questioned by May about having an affair, he didn’t want her innocence to be tainted by her lingering thoughts that worried her about him being with another woman. He didn’t want the things she imagined to be going on to make an impact on their relationship. “‘She doesn’t blind one; but she dries up one’s tears.’ The answer checked the pleading on Archer’s lips: it seemed to come from depths of experience beyond his reach” (239). When Madame Olenska said that she has seen the Gorgon, rather than blinding her, she reflects that looking at the Gorgon makes her seen everything. Madame Olenska has seen the way her and Newland’s future will turn out based on the current status of their relationship if they chose to run away together, and she does not want that for him. It is just a matter of trying to get him to see their relationship in the light that she is to understand that their affair has to end. In the end, sight has a negative impact on experiences which taints the innocence of those such as May and Ellen who reflect on those experiences and come to devastating