The Age of Innocence

1. The Age of Innocence Archer’s Development and ‘emergence’

2. Examination concepts • Presentation of character • Through narrative perspective • Through use of motif-based symbolism • Through dialogue • Presentation of key thematic concerns • Through tone • Through explicit textual detail • Through character perspective

3. Archer’s development in Book 2 • Part of the bildungsroman concept • Is he facing a dilemma? • In a sense, “no”. Archer is still very much a figure of NY society and is in a ‘stable’ position in terms of respect, status etc. • However, the opening of Book 2 of the novel exposes… • A lack of satisfaction in terms of intellect • A lack of satisfaction in terms of emotion • We can therefore identify a similar issue as that mapped in Book 1 – a desire to be part of NY society and tradition opposed by a desire to follow emotion and intellect

4. Where does the dissatisfaction emerge? • Wharton begins to make it very clear that Archer is not entirely at ease • Through the narration (both the omniscient narrator and Archer’s own thoughts) • “Archer was dealing hurriedly with crowding thoughts…” [Ch22, p186]

5. Sense of life in relation to May and NY society • A sense of constraint is denoted throughout the text whenever May and the Wellands are discussed. • As Book 2 develops, Wharton’s narrator continually presents Archer’s thoughts in a way that suggests that he sees only stagnation in his new life as a “son-in-law” • “What am I? A son-in-law –” [Ch 21, p177]

6. Sense of life in relation to Ellen • A sense of liberty is suggested by Archer’s interactions with Ellen • Consider the continuous use of specific images in association with Ellen – especially her eyes, voice and the symbolic motif of the flame

7. Archer as naïve boy • Archer is frequently depicted in a way that suggests he is not fully aware e.g. the lighthouse episode, the letter episode • Archer is not always conscious that he is not in control • Wharton’s narrator demonstrates this in two ways • Peevishness with May and her family • Adoration of Ellen

8. Archer as naïve boy "Because you didn't look round—because you didn't know I was there. I swore I wouldn't unless you looked round." He laughed as the childishness of the confession struck him. "But I didn't look round on purpose.” [Ch 23 , p192]

9. An ‘emerging’ Archer – the bildungsroman • Wharton’s narrator allows us to map Archer’s gradual change in levels of awareness • The young man was sincerely but placidly in love. He delighted in the radiant good looks of his betrothed, in her health, her horsemanship, her grace and quickness at games, and the shy interest in books and ideas that she was beginning to develop under his guidance. (She had advanced far enough to join him in ridiculing the Idyls of the King, but not to feel the beauty of Ulysses and the Lotus Eaters.) She was straightforward, loyal and brave; she had a sense of humour (chiefly proved by her laughing at HIS jokes); and he suspected, in the depths of her innocently-gazing soul, a glow of feeling that it would be a joy to waken. But when he had gone the brief round of her he returned discouraged by the thought that all this frankness and innocence were only an artificial product. Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile. [Ch 6, p37]

10. The emergence of Archer He was sorry that he had not told May Welland of Countess Olenska's request, and a little disturbed by the thought that his betrothed might come in to see her cousin. What would she think if she found him sitting there with the air of intimacy implied by waiting alone in the dusk at a lady's fireside? [Ch 9, p 57]

11. The emergence of Archer He remembered what she had told him of Mrs. Welland's request to be spared whatever was "unpleasant" in her history, and winced at the thought that it was perhaps this attitude of mind which kept the New York air so pure. "Are we only Pharisees after all?" he wondered, puzzled by the effort to reconcile his instinctive disgust at human vileness with his equally instinctive pity for human frailty. [Ch 11, p 78]

12. The emergence of Archer "Now we're coming to hard facts," he thought, conscious in himself of the same instinctive recoil that he had so often criticised in his mother and her contemporaries. How little practice he had had in dealing with unusual situations! Their very vocabulary was unfamiliar to him, and seemed to belong to fiction and the stage. In face of what was coming he felt as awkward and embarrassed as a boy. [Ch 12, p88]

13. The emergence of Archer "Well, then: is it worth while to risk what may be infinitely disagreeable and painful? Think of the newspapers—their vileness! It's all stupid and narrow and unjust—but one can't make over society.“[Ch 12 , p 91]

14. The emergence of Archer He looked away into the fire, and then back at her shining presence. His heart tightened with the thought that this was their last evening by that fireside, and that in a moment the carriage would come to carry her away. [Ch 18, p135]

15. The Age of Innocence Archer’s Development and ‘emergence’ Book 2

16. Recap from previous lecture • The bildungsroman concept of Archer’s “emergence” • The concept that presentation helps to guide the reader • The concept that Wharton provides a way of perceiving two different ‘Archers’ – one through direct speech, the other through the narrative itself

17. Archer’s kiss – Ch 18 The one thing that astonished him now was that he should have stood for five minutes arguing with her across the width of the room, when just touching her made everything so simple. She gave him back all his kiss, but after a moment he felt her stiffening in his arms, and she put him aside and stood up. "Ah, my poor Newland—I suppose this had to be. But it doesn't in the least alter things," she said, looking down at him in her turn from the hearth. "It alters the whole of life for me." [p 139]

18. Book 2 – Archer’s continuing journey The wedding represents a heightening of what has already emerged in the narrative "And all the while, I suppose," he thought, "real people were living somewhere, and real things happening to them . . .“ [Ch 19, p 149]

19. Book 2 Archer had reverted to all his old inherited ideas about marriage. It was less trouble to conform with the tradition and treat May exactly as all his friends treated their wives than to try to put into practice the theories with which his untrammelled bachelorhood had dallied. There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free; and he had long since discovered that May's only use of the liberty she supposed herself to possess would be to lay it on the altar of her wifely adoration. [Ch 20, p160]

20. Book 2 Chapter 23 – the entire ‘build up’ for the meeting between Ellen and Archer is almost free of any mention is names – why is this? [p188-189] The words hardly reached him: he was aware only of her voice, and of the startling fact that not an echo of it had remained in his memory. He had not even remembered that it was low-pitched, with a faint roughness on the consonants. [p190]

21. Book 2 There had been days and nights when the memory of their kiss had burned and burned on his lips; the day before even, on the drive to Portsmouth, the thought of her had run through him like fire; but now that she was beside him, and they were drifting forth into this unknown world, they seemed to have reached the kind of deeper nearness that a touch may sunder. [Ch 23, p 195]

22. Book 2 What her answer really said was: "If you lift a finger you'll drive me back: back to all the abominations you know of, and all the temptations you half guess." He understood it as clearly as if she had uttered the words, and the thoughtkept him anchored to his side of the table in a kind of moved and sacred submission. [Ch 24, p200]

23. Book 2 But after a moment the sense of waste and ruin overcame him. There they were, close together and safe and shut in; yet so chained to their separatedestinies that they might as well have been half the world apart. "What's the use—when you will go back?" he broke out, a great hopelessHow on earth can I keep you? crying out to her beneath his words. [Ch 24, p 200]

24. Book 2 The day, according to any current valuation, had been a rather ridiculousfailure; he had not so much as touched Madame Olenska's hand with his lips, or extracted one word from her that gave promise of farther opportunities. Nevertheless, for a man sick with unsatisfied love, and parting for an indefinite period from the object of his passion, he felt himself almost humiliatinglycalm and comforted. It was the perfect balance she had held between their loyalty to others and their honesty to themselves that had so stirred and yet tranquillized him; … [Ch 25, p 202]

25. Book 2 • Presentation creates further dilemmas for the reader. • How is Archer going to resolve this conflict? • Which set of values will prevail? • How will Ellen react if Archer pursues his passion further?

26. Book 2 "I'm so sorry: it shan't happen again," she answered, in the firm bright tone she had learned from her mother; and it exasperated Archer to feel that she was already beginning to humour him like a younger Mr. Welland. She bent over to lower the wick, and as the light struck up on her white shoulders and the clear curves of her face he thought: "How young she is! For what endless years this life will have to go on!“ [Ch 26, p 218]

27. Book 2 "The change will do you good," she said simply, when he had finished; "and you must be sure to go and see Ellen," she added, looking him straight in the eyes with her cloudless smile, and speaking in the tone she might have employed in urging him not to neglect some irksome family duty. [Ch 26, p218]

28. Key concepts • At this point in the novel, we can argue that Archer is finally becoming fully aware of the complete conflict between his wishes and his reality. • Ellen Olenska remains passionate in terms of feelings but knows she cannot reciprocate without causing ‘damage’ to the social fabric.

29. Book 2 Her tone was so natural, so almost indifferent, that Archer's turmoil subsided. Once more she had managed, by her sheer simplicity, to make him feel stupidly conventional just when he thought he was flinging convention to the winds. "I think you're the most honest woman I ever met!" he exclaimed. [Ch 29, p236]

30. Book 2 • "For us? But there's no us in that sense! We're near each other only if we stay far from each other. Then we can be ourselves. Otherwise we're only Newland Archer, the husband of Ellen Olenska's cousin, and Ellen Olenska, the cousin of Newland Archer's wife, trying to be happy behind the backs of the people who trust them.” [Ch 29, p239]

31. Book 2 He had fallen into the way of dwelling on such conjectures as a means of tying his thoughts fast to reality. Sometimes he felt as if he had found the clue to his father-in-law's absorption in trifles; perhaps even Mr. Welland, long ago, had had escapes and visions, and had conjured up all the hosts of domesticity to defend himself against them. [Ch 30, p241]

32. Book 2 • Archer concedes to ‘baser’ feelings? She turned away, and he followed and caught her by the wrist. "Well, then: come to me once," he said, his head turning suddenly at the thought of losing her; and for a second or two they looked at each other almost like enemies. "When?" he insisted. "Tomorrow?" She hesitated. "The day after.“ [Ch 31, p258]

33. Book 2 …he saw that her face, which had grown very pale, was flooded with a deep inner radiance. His heart beat with awe: he felt that he had never before beheld love visible. [Ch 31, p 258]

34. Ideas to ponder “He was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its Realization.” [ Ch 1] How is this linked to the theatrical motif throughout the novel?

35. Activity • Access a soft copy of the text – e.g. PDF format • Type word and phrase searches such as; • “It struck him”, “he was struck” or simply “struck” • “he thought” “she thought”, “the thought” • “he felt” • “fire”, “flame” “enflamed” etc • What is the CONTEXT? How is this relevant to the presentation of characters?

36. Conclusions? • Although the novel is a relatively simple story of potential and lost love, it is presented in a manner that influences the reader’s judgement • Archer is initially presented as a rather self-righteous figure but one with a potential for depth of feeling • The real conflict of the novel is that which takes place within Archer’s own conscience