The Stigma of Divorce Represented in The Age of Innocence Recently‚ I was driving and saw a sign that deeply disturbed me. A company offers divorce for ninety nine dollars uncontested. I think that this is a huge statement reflecting how flippantly society looks at the subject of divorce presently. Looking at the novel The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton‚ the subject of divorce is looked as a scandal‚ sometimes even as a crime. In this novel‚ divorce can bring a huge stigma not only to the
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The Age of Innocence major theme is based around a battle of the individual’s desire and the monotonous life‚ rules and duties that control New York during the eighteen seventies. The conflict is between freedom and society. It was a society “intent on maintaining its own rigid stability”. Each man and woman had its own duties and people were forced to maintain this social code that existed‚ even if they wanted to put their happiness into their own hands. Big decisions were made by group choice not
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conflict Archer Newland faces a huge internal conflict with having to marry May and being in love with Ellen at the same time. This conflict is never resolved because all around Newland his friends including Ellen‚ have made everything so confusing to him that he ends up feeling lonely all over again. Newland doesn’t want to be scandalous because it wouldn’t be proper to show his true feelings towards Ellen. However Newland hints them in many ways. When Medora comes up to Newland and mentions
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|4 | |2 Individuality and Innocence in The Age of Innocence………………………… |6 | |2.1 Ellen’s Individualistic Qualities………………………………………… |7 | |2.2 May’s Artificial Innocence……………………………………………… |10 | |2.3 Contradiction between Individuality and Innocence……………………
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It is evident that Newland Archer goes through a series of events that define his personality and from which we can deduct the truth. Archer finds redemption in his sons‚ love and pity coming from May. The biggest constant motif of The Age of Innocence is mortality and immortality. When Wharton first describes the characters of New York Society‚ they are always conceived of as immortal in some way. By saying this meaning that she portrays them as being like the mythological Greek antiquity‚ or
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The Age of Innocence focuses on several different themes throughout the course of the novel. These themes are recurrent and one can seem them being used at various times throughout the story. They add meaning to the story and give readers of Edith Wharton’s novel many things to take into consideration during and after reading it. Class: This is evidently the largest theme in The Age of Innocence. The wealthiest of New York’s elite are the central focus of the novel. Being well-respected and
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Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence is set during the Golden Age of old New York (1945-1965).One has to wonder if the title of “The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton is‚ in itself‚ an ironic statement as the reader is forced to repeatedly question how innocent of a time this is and if innocence is merely an appearance and not a reality. Although the society in “The Age of Innocence" is highly organized and nuanced‚ it is merely that way so that indiscretions and actions that are anything
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Edith Wharton’s Use of Irony in the Age of Innocence Irony‚ in which meaning is inverted to suggest the opposite of what is written‚ is used throughout “The Age of Innocence” to highlight and gently mock the superficiality of the New York elite. The very title of Wharton’s novel establishes a profound sense of irony in its nostalgic yet satirical tone. It is unclear whether Wharton sees New York’s 19th century “innocence” as an endearing feature of a society still free from modernism‚ or as a
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The Relevance of Flowers in The Age of Innocence In the book The Age of Innocence‚ Edith Wharton shows the struggles of a man to choose between the safety that following social rules provides‚ and the adventurous dangers of choosing what is regarded as "morally incorrect." The purity and security of social conventions is represented by the lilies-of-the-valley. In the language of flowers these lilies are the embodiment of the "[r]eturn of happiness" (354)‚ and therefore serve as a symbol for the
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The Age of Innocence “Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” –Oscar Wilde. Society has a significant role on the decisions made by individuals‚ and this is clearly displayed in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. This fictional romance novel depicts upper-class New York society in the 1870’s. The main character‚ Newland Archer‚ was blissfully engaged to the sweet-tempered‚ impeccable May Welland. When May’s cousin‚ Countess Olenska arrives‚ Newland
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