Newland Archer is described in ‘The Age

of Innocence’ as a man of thought; what

do his inward reflections tell us about
Old New York’s power to compromise the
needs of the individual?

In your answer you should consider:

Ÿ views of others
Ÿ relevant contextual information
_________________________________________
Newland Archer is an anomaly in New York’s delicate social system.
A self

described dilettante, he partakes in pleasure for pleasure’s sake,

and

unlike the rest of New York, not just in a purely superficial manner.
His

cerebral nature means that “thinking over a pleasure to come often

gave

him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation”. He, along with Ellen

Olenska and the bohemian Ned Winsett, represent the opposing

force to

New York’s stifling, rigid adherence to conformity.

New York society is one domineered by “immemorial custom”; it is

itself

one single entity rather than a collection of many. It depends on the

unity

of all within it for survival, ruthlessly cutting out any individual who
may

introduce independent thought and destroy it, like an invasive

bacteria.
Their system is an effective one, using a manner of hieroglyphs,
rites and

unspoken actions to achieve its objective.

The “maverick” characters are perhaps analogous to Edith Wharton

herself, a product of the very same society transcribed on the

pages. Like

Archer, Wharton was an intellectual, preferring books to clothes and

when

her literary talents arose at a young age, her mother’s reaction

“was one

of fascinated horror”1.

Wharton sought escapism through literature; the reading and the

writing

of it. It offered her respite from the “unimaginative and

lethargic”2

exercise of age old virtues. Channelling her own thoughts and

criticisms of

Old New York through the private musings of Archer, we get the best

representation of the fiercely conservative tribal community which

took

too much and gave so little in return.

Countess Ellen Olenska is every bit the woman Edith

Wharton

wanted to be; independent, beautiful, smart and strikingly original.

She is

a “foreign and a … revolutionary force”3 and the novel opens

with her

appearance at the Opera, where all of New York high society came

to see and be seen. Its small size kept out the “nouveau riche“4,
whom

New York was “beginning to dread and yet be drawn to”. The
reaction of

New York to such a symbol of nonconformity appearing at the

bastion of

the Old New York social scene is one of abject horror. The sight of
Ellen in

the Mingott’s box causes Lawrence Lefferts, the “foremost authority

on

form”, to exclaim “Well-upon my soul!”, loudly voicing the concern

that all

of New York would invariably be feeling.

This incident evokes Archer’s first emotion towards Ellen;

indignation. We

can compare this to the emotions May - his wife to be and

archetypal

product of New York - arises in him: “tender reverence” and so on.

Ellen

has instilled in Archer in a single instant a feeling more passionate,

deep

and earnest than May has in their many months of courtship. For the
first

time, Archer’s halcyon world of Old New York has been invaded by

something exotic, alluring and unnerving, and where he disapproves

of

Ellen having any influence on May, he can’t help but be intrigued by

her

presence. Compelled by a sense of duty towards his soon to be

“clan” -

another fiercely guarded tradition instilled in Archer by Old New York

-,

Archer makes his way to “the box which was thus attracting the
undivided

attention of masculine New York”. Here he shares his first moment

with

Ellen, and senses that New York has put her under tribunal, eerily
pre-

figuring the moment when the two lovers are ultimately broken by
New

York; driven apart after a silent, yet ferociously effective trial.

Ironically,

Ellen describes New York as “heaven”, although it is not elucidated

whether she describes it this way cynically, though one would like to

think so as it is the last place meant for such a free spirit as her.
Perhaps

Ellen’s judgement of Old New York society has been clouded over
with

years of absence, in contrast to Wharton who had to move to France

before

she could even begin writing her most scathing retort of her former

society’s customs.

Newland may not know it straight away, but this first

experience

with Ellen profoundly changes him as a person. He senses that not

everything in New York has to be definite and set in stone. By

bearing

witness to her nonchalant disregard to social mores and customs,

she has

subversively worked her way into the only place that matters - his
mind -,

and she is henceforth never far from his thoughts.

Ellen at first serves only to make Newland grateful to have his own
piece

of security in May; a typical, uncompromised, blank canvass of a

New
Yorker. He sees it as his duty to mould her in his image,
daydreaming of

a future spent guiding her cautiously through the arts (as any

“cosmopolitan” husband such as Newland should consider it his duty

to).

Of May and Archer one critic has said, “One can see that they
are in fact

predestined to become a typical New York couple if of

slightly wider

interests than the majority”5. The use of the word “predestined”

only

serves to accentuate the view of New York’s strict adherence to

code and

custom. It would take a titanic force to break New York’s bond on

Archer,

a force that comes in the guise of Ellen.

It is during dinner with Sillerton Jackson that the subject of

Ellen

is first raised with Newland in company. Archer “waited with an

amused

curiosity” for the subject to be brought up, not wanting to initiate

the

conversation himself yet nevertheless desiring to talk about the

alien

woman that had been at the forefront of New York’s - and his - mind

lately.

Quietly observing his tribe’s feasting upon Ellen, Newland’s feelings

toward her again start to well up inside him. Newland sees fit to
defend

her honour against his own set; the first tentative indication of
Newland’s
deviation from society towards Ellen - and himself. Carried on by the

momentum of the argument, Newland exclaims “I hope she will!” in

response to Janey’s “I hear she means to get a divorce” - ironic in

that his

hasty, unheeded change of mind in regard to this position later on

ultimately dooms Ellen and himself. The word falls in the room “like
a

bombshell” and this perhaps is the moment that betrays Newland to

New

York, ultimately resulting in the two lover’s downfall.

Post dinner, Newland retires to his own study a deeply changed

man.

Whilst pontificating over a picture of May, he realises that “marriage

was

not the safe anchorage he had been taught to think, but a voyage
on

uncharted seas.” Ellen, through only a few words, has sent deep and

meaningful reverberations through his psyche, rumbling the

foundations

on which his own personal vision of New York was built. Thoughts
rush in

and out of his mind, unearthing feelings New York had taught him,
as a

duty, to repress. He sees his future marriage with a clarity he has

never

realised before, and what it is to become: “a dull association of

social and

material interests held together by ignorance on one side and

hypocrisy on

the other”.
Seeing that his future role is one of a self-replicating machination,

purpose built solely to keep the rites and customs of New York alive
at the

expense of progress, Newland feels trapped. With nowhere to run

but his

own mind, Archer is “too gentlemanly, too committed to the

regime of

doing the right thing, of avoiding unpleasantness of any

kind”6 and

makes sure to bury his problem deep down, where it won’t bother
him.

But this illuminating episode will forever be looming over him,

quietly

chipping away at any fragment of the foundation of Old New York

left

within him.

Newland, a man of inaction, necessarily begins to live a lie. What

was supposed to be his “moment for pure thoughts and cloudless

hopes”

has been corrupted by Ellen. As he undresses he is at his most

vulnerable, and his symbolic covering of the fire can be seen as an

allegory

to New York’s blotting out of the unpleasant. With New York’s blood
still

running through his veins, albeit diluted, he grumbles “Hang Ellen

Olenska”, futilely trying to grasp onto his crumbling ivory towers.

New York had at this stage sensed an imbalance within itself. It

could

only deal with threats in two ways; by destroying or assimilating it.

Seeing that Ellen was something it could not just destroy, and that it
was

quite impossible to ignore her and hope she’d go away, society

decided it

was in the best interests of survival to incorporate her into its own
being.

This could only be achieved through the powerful van der Luyden’s,
who

“keep their influence as Ellen knows by making themselves

so rare”7.

The van der Luyden’s were perhaps the archetypal New York family.
They

could be seen as the deity’s of the puritanical society for which

things such

as ‘form’, ‘taste’ and ‘decency’ formed its religion. Reluctant to be

at the top

of the social ladder, they are there out of necessity, acting as the
“arbiters

of fashion”. With Ellen being granted the seal of approval by the

cortex of

New York, she is seemingly ready to be accepted into society, and

any

potential unpleasantness can be pushed away, where it belongs.

Archer, perhaps assured by New York’s acceptance of Ellen,

begins

to embrace within him her spirit. Watching her from afar at her

entrance into society, she arises genuine thoughts and emotions in

him.

Distracted by her eyes, his mind drifts off as to “what must have
gone into

the making” of them. Ellen has saturated Newland Archer’s New

York

with curious, romantic reflections, the like of which he had probably

only

experienced through books, and certainly not through May.

During their first real conversation, Ellen deconstructs New

York,

breaking customs and disrespecting important figures such as the

Duke of

St. Austrey. This thrilled Newland “so much that forgot the slight
shock

her previous remark had caused him”. Archer had finally found
someone

that shared his burgeoning, clandestine opinions of New York of

which he

couldn’t dare to utter. Throughout his conversation with Ellen,

Archer is

in a disembodied state, enchanted by her and only vaguely aware of

the

words coming out of his mouth. Even as May enters the room, it is
Ellen

who holds his attention, her striking individuality and beauty

captivating

he, that is usually so docile. Like rainfall to an arid plain, Ellen has

instilled in Archer a new sense of life, which starts to rise through

the

cracked surface.

Over time, Ellen’s influence on Newland becomes more explicit and

overt.

Upon visiting her house, Newland exclaims “It’s you who are telling
me;

opening my eyes to things I’d looked at so long I’d ceased to see

them”.

Ellen is the catalyst for Newland’s personal ‘Age of Enlightenment’,

making him see lucidly New York in all its oppressive, repressive

state: “It is Ellen Olenska who is able to explain to him the

alternative

- the disagreeable taste of ‘happiness brought by disloyalty

and cruelty

and indifference’”8.

After sampling what could be - the freedom that Ellen

exudes and

offers - Newland naively ponders on liberating May from the

shackles of

society. “Why not-why not-why not?” Archer pleads, as his fancies

are

brought to an abrupt halt by May’s steadfast resolution to “doing

the right

thing”. With a masterstroke of New York subtlety, May simply

brushes

the subject underfoot, effectively cutting off any potential

‘vulgarity’.

Alone in his room, Newland is besieged by the thought of “doing the

same

thing every day at the same hour”. The thoughts whirl through his
mind,

casting an icy glaze over his future, which was once so predictably
bright.

When Ellen is mentioned by Janey, Newland feels “senseless anger”;

even

though she is not his, the thought of her meeting with Beaufort
causes

jealousy to rage within him. The fact that he verbalizes that he is

“not

engaged to be married to the Countess Olenska!” shows that the

concept is
not far from his thoughts. Ellen is the ultimate symbol of freedom
and

opportunity to Newland, and subconsciously the thought of being

engaged

to New York instead of her is causing him misery.

to be continued…

Bibliography
_________________________________________
1 : page xv, Introduction, The Age of Innocence

2 :page xvi, Introduction, The Age of Innocence

3 : Edith Wharton, A Critical Interpretation

4 : page 12, A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton

5 : Edith Wharton, A Critical Interpretation

6 : Edith Wharton, A Critical Interpretation

7 : Forms of Disembodiment: The Social Subject in the Age of

Innocence

8 : Edith Wharton - Janet Beer