Sunday, November 11, 2012
The Age of Innocence
In the reading, M. Riviere comes to talk to Archer about Count Olenski's proposal for Ellen's return. Although his mission is to convince her; he, personally, believes that she should stay in America. He believes this because he thinks the American society has changed her. Is there any evidence for this? Also if Ellen has been changed why hasn't Archer given up his desire to be different?
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Me to it seems that Ellen has changed. At first when Ellen came to America, It was very noticeable that she was foreign. From the first account where it is described that her attire brought much attention to her booth at the opera. Now, Ellen is a bit more refined. She seems to understand social pressures more and now that she is being assimilated into high American society Ellen wants to be radical but is too weak. This is similar to Archer. Ellen has not changed to being more innocent and pure, now she is more mature. She knows that she cannot act the way she does if she wanted to stay in new york. However, she had not given up her experiences this is what Archer likes and because she did not give those things up Archer has not given up either.
ReplyDeleteI think that Ellen is changed in the way that now she understands the behaviors and the code that NY society requires and so she is not the center of all the attentions as much as it was when she first came, because she learned how to comport herself in that context. At the same time I don't think that her deep ideas and ideals changed, in fact "she has grown tired of what people called "society"; New York was kind, it was almost oppressively hospitable; she would never forget the way in which it had welcomed her back; but after the first flush of novelty she had found herself, as she phrased it, too "different" to care for the things it cared about- and so she had decided to try Washington, where one was supposed to meet more varieties of people and of opinion" (#178-179). This quote basically is saying that she is still different from NY society and because of this difference she wants to change place and so she goes to Washington, where she hopes to find people more like her. Her diversity therefore still remains and that is why Archer is still intrigued and attracted by this figure.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Arnav with the whole thing about Ellen becoming more mature; however, I also think that her maturity within Old New York society was inevitable. Archer was first attracted to her because she was new and seemed different, as all new thing in his boring, miserable life would have seemed. Throughout the entire book, Wharton shows how she has conformed to the ways of New York society and how she isn't really that different from anyone else. Archer just wants her so badly because he thought that she could be the outlet from his life that he always wanted to need (again pitying himself). Ellen went through all of the changes that any newcomer into New York society would go through; Archer just got to experience her before those changes took place, and therefore, was more intrigued by her. I think that Archer is still drawn to her and not giving up hope, however, because even though Ellen underwent all those changes, she once was the person he wanted to be with, and although she's changed now, she's not once denied her past. The idea that she has had a past, doesn't deny it, and has still chosen to move on from it captures Archer's attention and keeps him thinking that he's the "special" one that can make her change back into the person who first caught his eye in the opera box.
ReplyDeleteI think that New York society has changed Olenska. She wants the shelter and comfort that her elite relatives have. Throughout the novel she becomes more concerned with what others think and tries to avoid scandal. At the beginning of the novel she was more free-spirited and ignorant to what others thought but as the novel progressed she became concerned with what others thought. Archer does not give up his hopes of changing because Archer knows he will never achieve this goal. Archer stands in the way of himself changing by caring to much what society thinks of him.
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