Changing society in any way takes intellectual curiosity and immense bravery. Sadly, these characteristics were not all too admired during the Gilded Age. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton features characters that contrast with the constricting ideas of this period and embrace the boldness of the heart and the head (up to a point). Although it was a time in American history where a lucky few flourished, this era lacked depth especially where its values were concerned and Wharton’s prose certainly keeps that in mind. The story of Newland Archer and Madame Olenska divulges the repressive elitist culture that existed and communicates it with symbols, tone, and a hint of nostalgia. In Edith Wharton’s iconic novel The Age of Innocence the norms
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The charm of the relationship between Countess Olenska and Newland Archer derives from the unknown possibilities and ideas that spring anew at each one of their encounters. When Archer picks Olenska up from the train station he says, “‘I mean: how shall I explain it? I-it’s always so. Each time you happen to me all over again’” (200). In stating this Archer shows how exciting every meeting is for them and how different each one is as well. The stressing of the last sentence makes the reader understand exactly how this line was said: with little restraint and boyish gaiety. Every interaction leads to the two understand one another in a more mentally and emotionally intimate way. Archer and Olenska crave change and new experiences, yet neither have been able to find such qualities in their spouses. As Archer is sitting in his study, “he said to himself with a secret dismay that he would always know the thoughts behind [May’s brow], that never, in all the years to come, would she surprise him by an unexpected mood, by a new idea, a weakness, a cruelty or an emotion”(207). One might infer that although May, Archer’s wife, fits the bill when it comes to all that society wants, he not only puts her down, but doesn’t treat her as an equal, especially when it comes to matters of intellect. The way in …show more content…
Archer has no ability to keep both mind and body in the same realm as this novel comes to a close. Once, as he is trying desperately to get Olenska to participate in the imagining of his impossible future, he claims, “‘And you’ll sit beside me, and we’ll look, not at visions, but at realities.’” (203) In addition, as Archer realizes his dreams of running off with Ellen Olenska will never come to fruition, he chooses to constantly keep his mind in any place other than where he physically is, especially if his current position is beside his predictable bride, May. Wharton uses the imagery of opening up windows or leaving events “to get some air” as mechanisms to show just how out of body Newland Archer truly is. In one of the most telling of these situations wherein Archer believes himself to be dead in every way that counts, he contemplates the physical death of the one person who keeps him from completely throwing social norms to the wind, his beautiful, but abysmally pure wife, May. Wharton writes, “The sensation of standing there, in that warm familiar room, and looking at her, and wishing her dead, was so strange, so fascinating and overmastering, that its enormity did not immediately strike him. He simply felt that the chance had given him a new possibility in which his sick soul might cling”(207). Archer
The charm of the relationship between Countess Olenska and Newland Archer derives from the unknown possibilities and ideas that spring anew at each one of their encounters. When Archer picks Olenska up from the train station he says, “‘I mean: how shall I explain it? I-it’s always so. Each time you happen to me all over again’” (200). In stating this Archer shows how exciting every meeting is for them and how different each one is as well. The stressing of the last sentence makes the reader understand exactly how this line was said: with little restraint and boyish gaiety. Every interaction leads to the two understand one another in a more mentally and emotionally intimate way. Archer and Olenska crave change and new experiences, yet neither have been able to find such qualities in their spouses. As Archer is sitting in his study, “he said to himself with a secret dismay that he would always know the thoughts behind [May’s brow], that never, in all the years to come, would she surprise him by an unexpected mood, by a new idea, a weakness, a cruelty or an emotion”(207). One might infer that although May, Archer’s wife, fits the bill when it comes to all that society wants, he not only puts her down, but doesn’t treat her as an equal, especially when it comes to matters of intellect. The way in …show more content…
Archer has no ability to keep both mind and body in the same realm as this novel comes to a close. Once, as he is trying desperately to get Olenska to participate in the imagining of his impossible future, he claims, “‘And you’ll sit beside me, and we’ll look, not at visions, but at realities.’” (203) In addition, as Archer realizes his dreams of running off with Ellen Olenska will never come to fruition, he chooses to constantly keep his mind in any place other than where he physically is, especially if his current position is beside his predictable bride, May. Wharton uses the imagery of opening up windows or leaving events “to get some air” as mechanisms to show just how out of body Newland Archer truly is. In one of the most telling of these situations wherein Archer believes himself to be dead in every way that counts, he contemplates the physical death of the one person who keeps him from completely throwing social norms to the wind, his beautiful, but abysmally pure wife, May. Wharton writes, “The sensation of standing there, in that warm familiar room, and looking at her, and wishing her dead, was so strange, so fascinating and overmastering, that its enormity did not immediately strike him. He simply felt that the chance had given him a new possibility in which his sick soul might cling”(207). Archer