How would you describe Newland Archer?
As his name suggests, Newland Archer’s values are American. You know: America, the “new land,” as opposed to the “old” ways of Europe. He’s American in his decency, honesty, and self-sufficiency, his hold-the-door attitude toward his virginal fiancée, his money sense and his gentlemanly lawyer position.
How is May Welland described?
She is a kind, simple, and beautiful girl known for her athleticism. May is the embodiment of the female ideal in New York high society; she is pure, innocent, and unfailingly polite.
Does Newland Archer marry May?
A perfect product of the social code, May Welland Archer begins the novel in ignorance and ends it in wisdom. When she first appears, she is the personification of innocence. She marries Newland and her slim intellectual abilities never vary, but her wisdom in manipulating Newland grows immensely.
Why does Newland Archer walk away?
He contemplates the power of their past relationship and cannot reconcile it with the docility that it would now be negated to. Newland realizes that he is unable to bring the same zealousness to the relationship that it deserves; it is in honor of that memory that he walks away.
Who does Newland Archer end up with?
Newland Archer His engagement to May Welland is one in a string of accomplishments.
What is Newland Archer’s job?
All is not lost for Archer, though; while he works as a lawyer for much of the book (without love or ambition for his job), he gives in somewhat to his attraction to the intellectual life and finds fulfillment in a life of public service, despite that public service is considered to be beneath his class.
Did Archer love May?
He was not devoted to May, he was merely conventionally loyal. He did not offer her love, and when he met the love of his life, he did not sacrifice at any juncture to join her–breaking his engagement when May gave him an out, opposing the divorce, then failing to run away until it was too late.
Who was the Countess May?
Countess Ellen Olenska
In 1870’s New York City, gentleman lawyer Newland Archer is planning to marry the respectable young May Welland. May’s cousin, the American heiress Countess Ellen Olenska, has returned to New York after a disastrous marriage to a dissolute Polish Count.
Who does Newland Archer marry?
In April, Archer and May marry, then embark on a two-month honeymoon in Europe. They travel through Switzerland and France before landing in London. At a party in London, Archer meets Monsieur Rivière. A year later, Newland and May are in Newport, Rhode Island, for the summer.
What was the point of Age of Innocence?
The Age of Innocence shows the conflict brought about by this transition, with a main theme being the “right people” following the “correct rules” and marrying into the “acceptable families.” Her characters, interiors, clothing, manners, settings, and attitudes reflect the world of her childhood and young-adult life …
Is Age of Innocence a true story?
From now on, Wharton said, “the historical novel will be the only possible form for fiction.” She wrote most of “The Age of Innocence” in 1919, the year after the Armistice, but the action is set in the 1870s, with only the last chapter jumping forward to the 1900s.
Why is it called The Age of Innocence?
The Age of Innocence is a title both ironic and poignant: ironic because the “age” or period of the novel, the late nineteenth century, teems with intolerance, collusion, and cynicism; poignant because the only innocence lost is that of Newland Archer, the resolute gentleman whose insight into the machinations of …
