The Age Of Innocence Gender Roles Essay

The current unit is entitled “The Gender Roles Unit”. Because of this, I assumed that The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, would be a feminist piece. When I first began reading it did not strike me as a feminist work. This in part is due to the contrast between our current society and the society set in the book. The representation of women within the novel were upsetting until I realized that I was unfairly judging it through a modern lens, as though this book from decades ago was supposed to somehow represent modern ideals perfectly. That is when I did the same thing of looking at the characters with a more open mind while also taking the constraints of the society they were in, in mind. However, it became clear upon further reading
that some of the overarching themes of the book would be the questioning of social standards, and the exploration of individuality. Another central theme to The Age of Innocence is the struggle between the individual and the group.
Newland Archer has been raised into a world where manners and moral codes dictate how the individual will act, and in some cases, even think. One of the individual's foremost duties is to promote and protect the solidarity of his or her tightly knit group of blood and marital relationships. In the second chapter of the book, Archer is expected, despite his initial unwillingness to associate with the scandal-garnering Countess Olenska, to enter the Mingott family's opera box in order to support their decision to bring the Countess out in public. Later in the novel, when Ellen wishes to reclaim her freedom by divorcing her husband, she is discouraged from this action because the family fears unpleasant gossip. Wharton is quick to demonstrate how easy it is to find loopholes in the code of Old New York. Another one of her large themes is that appearances are seldom in line with realities. Hypocrisy runs rampant in Old New York. The upstanding families who so eagerly attend Julius Beaufort's balls, who depend on his lavish hospitality as the center of their social activities, are the same ones who continually disdain his "commonness". This profound sense of irony lead me to the question of Wharton's choice of title. One of the questions I would like to ask my group is,To what extent is the era of Old New York truly an "Age of Innocence"? Wharton's title is neither purely earnest
nor purely ironic.
Wharton uses the character of Newland Archer as a lens of consciousness through which to see Old New York. As a result, much of the criticism of that society is comprised of his opinions. And in fact, the reader sees two central characters, May Welland and Ellen Olenska, primarily through Archer's eyes. Yet Wharton also employs an omniscient narration to describe many of the details of setting, as well as the personal histories and physical appearances of several characters. This more remote narrator often serves to undercut Archer's opinions. For example, although Archer's opinions of May lead me to believe that she is an innocent and hollow person, there are several indications that Archer does not realize his wife's depth. Wharton has the ability to create a focus on each female through the descriptions and images she has created for each of them. Her intention I would assume is to give meaning to her female characters, to make them stand out. For example, Ellen’s first appearance which is in a “ dark blue velvet gown rather theatrically caught up under her bosom by a girdle with a large old fashioned clap” (Wharton 8).
As for material objects like fashion and furniture, each object bears a significant relationship to its owner. In a society where personal wealth is gratuitously displayed, each object reflects the economic status of the owner. On a more sophisticated level, these objects indicate the personality of the owner: his or her tastes, interests, and values.