|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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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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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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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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Metaphor Analysis Performance The novel opens at the opera‚ aptly introducing the recurring metaphor of performance‚ or keeping up an appearance of correct and moral behavior‚ whatever the reality might be. Julius Beaufort is an example of someone who manages to do this until the end of the novel‚ when he is unmasked and ostracized. Correct dress and customs become the props that hold the performance together. When Beaufort is trying to fool people into thinking that he is being financially
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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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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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novel‚ “ The Age of Innocence”‚ illustrates a young wealthy lawyer who degress from his life plans to marry May Welland by becoming infatuated with Countess Ellen Olenska‚ who has separated from her European husband. Eventually‚ Archer Newland and lady Olenska become devotedly in love with one another. The forbidden love is displayed as “innocence”; this so called innocence can be portrayed as young girl with lovely little pigtails that can not fulfill any harm‚ but in reality that innocence is a gordian
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The Age of Exploration was a period from the early 1400s and continuing into the early 1600s‚ during which European ships traveled around the world to search for new trade routes to feed growing capitalism in Europe. The most commonly sought after new trade route was to the Spice Islands‚ which are now the Indonesian archipelago‚ in southern Asia. Spices were originally brought to Western Europe by land routes‚ but because of a lack cargo space and extremely long travel times the prices were very
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CHARACTER ANALYSIS Newland Archer As the protagonist of the novel‚ Newland Archer’s point of view governs its narration. He is said to be a dilettante at the beginning of the novel‚ someone who amateurishly enjoys the pleasurable and delicate sensations that are the luxury of the members of the ruling class. He is respectable and seems to have bought into all the baggage that is a part of maintaining respectability. But his character is set against those of his peers and his family members in
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