The Meaning of Innocence

1. Brief Introduction of Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton, born Edith Newbold Jones (January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937)，was the daughter of Jones which was a noble family of New York. She was well educated at home and traveled abroad for several times. In 1885, at the age of 23, she married Edward (Teddy) Robbins Wharton, who was 12 years her senior. From a well-established Boston family, he was a sportsman and a gentleman of her social class. Good as he was, they had little in common intellectually. A few years later, Edward suffered from mental illness, which eventually led to their divorce in 1913. Since then, Edith lived in Paris, and participated in the Red Cross Council of the United States. After World War I, she only went back to America once. Wharton was friend and confidante to many gifted intellectuals of her time such as Henry James and Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Roosevelt, Bernard Berenson, and Kenneth Clark were valued friends as well. She died in 1937, and was buried in Versailles. Many of Wharton's novels are characterized by a subtle use of dramatic irony. Having grown up in upper-class pre-World War I society, Wharton became one of its most astute critics. In such works as The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence she employed both humor and profound empathy to describe the lives of New York's upper class and the vanishing of their world in the early years of the 20th century. In addition to writing several respected novels, Wharton produced a wealth of short stories and is particularly well regarded for her ghost stories. And also she was a designer. Her other famous works are The Custom of the Country and Old New York.

2. Plot

The Age of Innocence centers on an upper-class couple's impending marriage, and the introduction of a woman plagued by scandal whose presence threatens their happiness. Newland Archer, a gentleman lawyer and heir to one of New York City's best families, is happily anticipating a highly desirable marriage to the sheltered and beautiful May Welland. They are considered as a perfect match. Yet after the appearance of Countess Ellen Olenska, he finds reason to doubt his choice of bride. Ellen, May's exotic and beautiful cousin, has been living in Europe and returned to New York after scandalously separating herself (per rumor) from a bad marriage to a Polish Count. At the beginning, Ellen's arrival and its potential taint to his bride's family disturb him, but he becomes intrigued by the worldly Ellen who flouts New York society's fastidious rules. In fact, Newland had already crushed on Ellen in his young age, and now his admiration for the countess grows. In order to suppress his affection, he urges that the wedding should be held in advance, which violated the customs, but May refuses. Then, Newland confess to Ellen that he loves her and she corresponds, but is horrified that their love will aggrieve May. At this time, Newland receives May's telegram agreeing to wed sooner. Finally, they marry. However, Newland soon finds that his society marriage is loveless, and the social life he once found absorbing has become empty and joyless. He finds himself in the shackles of marriage, and gradually lost his identity. It is in this moment that he profoundly understands his true love is Ellen. Newland can no longer deceive himself, and finally poured out his love to Ellen who is suffering much the same. Newland desperately seeks a way to leave May and be with Ellen and he is resolute in going to Europe to find Ellen. However, at this vital moment, an unlucky thing happens. May is pregnant. She reveals that she had told Ellen of her pregnancy two weeks earlier, despite not being sure of it at the time. Ellen alone goes to Europe and Newland, Hopelessly trapped, decides not to follow Ellen, surrendering his love for the sake of his children, remaining in a loveless marriage to May. Twenty-six years later, after May's death, the fifty-seven-year old Newland finally gets the chance to see Ellen, he is stunned. On their arrival outside Ellen’s apartment building, Newland sends up his son alone to meet Ellen, while he waits outside, watching the balcony of her apartment. Newland considers going up, but in the end decides not to; he walks back to his hotel without seeing her.

3. Main Character Analysis

Newland Archer: The story's protagonist is a young, popular, gentle and successful lawyer living with his mother and sister in an elegant New York City house. Since childhood, his life has been shaped by the conventions and expectations of upper-class New York City society. His engagement to the pure and beautiful May Welland is the most enviable one in a string of accomplishments. In the beginning of the story, he is proud and content to dream about a traditional marriage in which he will be the husband-teacher and she the wife-student. Yet everything is different when he meets Countess Ellen Olenska. At first, he just wants to help her, but soon he fells in love with her. His passion for her makes him doubt his values on which he was raised. He sees the sexual inequality of New York society and the shallowness of its customs, and struggles to make a balance between social commitment to May and love for Ellen. He cannot find a place for their love in the complicated, judgmental web of New York society. Throughout the story's progress, he gives up Ellen three times in his whole life. The first time he suppressed his affection and married to May. The second time he did not follow Ellen to Europe because of May’s pregnancy. And the last time, he stood under her window and finally went away without seeing her. Truly, they love each other, but there is no place for them. In the end, Newland Archer finds that the only place for their love is in his memories.

May Welland she is Newland Archer's ideal wife, a noble, pretty and pure lady. Raised to be a perfect wife and mother, she follows and obeys all of society's customs, perfectly. Like others, May regards Europe in which Ellen lives as a conservative hypocrisy, humanity oppression world and that their New York is the representative of "all good things, "- freedom, equality and love. Mostly, she is the typical young woman that New York society requires. In the eye of Newland, she is always an innocent lady; however, in St. Augustine, May gives him a rare glimpse of the maturity and compassion he had previously ignored. She said she couldn’t have her happiness made out of a wrong- an unfairness-to somebody else. Therefore, she offers to release him from their engagement so that he can marry Mrs. Rushworth. The married woman, she thinks he truly loves, with whom he had recently ended a love affair. When he assures May of his loving only her, she flushes with joy and appears to trust him. Yet after marriage, she suspects Newland is Ellen's lover. Nonetheless, May pretends happiness in public, holding the illusion that he and she have the perfect marriage as they had expected. Her unhappiness activates her manipulative nature, and when Newland finds it, it is too late. To avoid their elopement and make her leave him forever, May tells Ellen of her pregnancy before she is certain of it. At the moment, her blue eyes wet with victory. Although she wins the marriage, she lost love. After May's death, Newland Archer learns she had always known of his continued love for Ellen. As May lay dying, she told their son Dallas that the children could always trust their father Newland, because he surrendered the thing most meaningful to him out of loyalty to their marriage, which also made her feel guilty in her whole life.

Ellen Olenska: She is May's cousin, Mrs. Manson Mingott's granddaughter, Newland’s true love and Count Olenski’wife. When first appears in the story, she is regarded as a different. Under the help of her husband’s secretary, she has returned to New York after scandalously separating herself (per rumor) from her miserable marriage. She is a free spirit who helps Newland Archer see beyond narrow New York society. Newland says that she is different. Everything she does is out of the New York’s custom and etiquette. She wears unusual dress; she gets up and walks away from one gentle man in order to seek the company of another in the drawing-room; she offers the servant her own cape before sending her out on an errand. She attends parties with disreputable people such as Julius Beaufort and Mrs. Lemuel Struthers, and she invites Newland, the fiancé of her cousin May to visit her. Maybe these are also the reasons that she is rejected by the society. She thinks the real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend. So she faces her love with Newland frankly. Much the same as she suffers as Newland from their impossible love, she is still willing to live in emotional limbo so long as they can love each other at a distance. However, in order to protect the family’s fame and May’s happiness, she chooses to hide her love and go to Europe, refusing Newland's attempt to follow her.

Mrs. Manson Mingott: The matriarch of the powerful Mingott family, and grandmother to Ellen and May. She controls her family: at Newland's request, she asks May and Mrs. Welland to ahead of the wedding date. She controls the money: withholding Ellen's living allowance (when the family is angry with Ellen), and having niece Regina Beaufort ask for money when in financial trouble. She and Elle have something in common. She always says that it’s a pity that Ellen doesn’t marry to Ellen. Finally, she said she would never shut Elle in that cage again.

Her welcoming Ellen is viewed skeptically, and she insists the rest of the family support Ellen.

4. Comment:

Having read this book only once, I have difficulty in coming up with some creative ideas, but I still want to say something in my mind. Frankly speaking, I choose this book because I’m impressed by the title. I wonder what kind of age can be defined as innocence, is it really innocent? With such questions, I finished reading the book. The moment I closed the book, my feelings were a little complicated, however, one thing I can be sure is that the age is definitely not innocent. Yet it is certain that the meaning of “innocence” is more than that. I look up the word in the dictionary, and it gives me three definitions. 1.Freedom from sin, moral wrong, or guilt through lack of knowledge of evil；2.Freedom from guile, cunning, or deceit; simplicity or artlessness；3. Lack of worldliness or sophistication; naiveté.  Undoubtedly, this novel covers all those meanings.

First of all, it refers to the innocence of Newland and Ellen’ love. Their admiration for each other is by no means incident. Though he has grown up in the unshakable conventions of upper-class New York City society, he is a little different from others. He likes reading and thinking, thus has a border horizons, which makes him have a deep sense of traditional constraint and depression and hate the boring life. Therefore, when Ellen appears in upper-class New York society with the glow of freedom in her spirit, he was deeply attracted. His feeling to her first is compassion of a friend, then love. At the same time, Ellen also admires him for his sincere help. Their love is not based on money, sex or anything material and secular, but on their common personalities. They belong to that category of people who are rebellious. They are different, so is their love. Unlike other love stories, their love doesn’t flourish and the story doesn’t have a happy ending. They wish to pursue their own happiness, but they also don’t want to hurt others, only have to choose to let it go. I appreciate this ending, and because of this their love is as pure as lily. Some people say that love is incomplete, just like Venus, her incompletion does make her beauty. If they successfully eloped to Europe, this love could never be described as innocence. Then Ellen would actually be the other woman, a mistress of Newland. She would be blamed to be an infidel woman who destroyed Newland’s family and May’s happiness. Their Platonic Love, which arises from their heart and ceases for the convention, is what really make them admirable. It reminds me the poem written by Qing Guan that “Abiding is our love, separation we fear not” (两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮). Yes, the love is innocence.

  Second, “an innocent age” is certain a sarcasm which reveals the hypocrisy of the New York upper class during 1870s. New York society, Composed of powerful, wealthy families, is a powerful machine, and what to maintain the operation of this machine are unshakable traditions and customs. People in that society are indifferent and merciless, just as Ellen says that at there people do not need tears but pretentions. They need to pay attention to the decency of their dresses and conversations. What time to go out to visit others after dinner, what flowers should be worn on the collar , and even after how long time should ladies wear their fashion clothes made from Paris all these have certain rules. Through these trivial formalities, it’s not hard for us to know the value orientation and moral standards of New York society. Any person who violates the rules and norms will be condemned and spurned by the high society. May regards Europe in which Ellen lives as a conservative hypocrisy, humanity oppression world and that their New York is the representative of "all good things, "- freedom, equality and love. It is true people are endowed with the right of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Actually, New York also is a decorated fancy cage, what she accepts is same and rejects is difference. People in that society are born in a rut, and you can’t root them out of it. Not one of them wants to be different because they are as scared of it as the small-pox. No doubt Ellen will be rejected by her family. Under this circumstance, their love is doomed to be a tragedy.

Last, I think May is the key of innocence. Of course, some may argue that she is shrewd and is the barrier to the realization of Newland and Ellen’s ideal love. When they express their love for the first time, May tells him that parents consent to hold their wedding in advance, which prevents the possibility of their further love. Two years later, when Newland determined to follow Ellen to Europe, it is May who secretly tells Ellen that she is pregnant, which makes Ellen give up Newland resolutely and completely. However, before they get married, may have given Newland the chance to seek for his true love, but he refused. There is no reason that she should be responsible for their tragedy. And there is no fault to tell a lie in order to protect her marriage. I suppose if she can speak out frankly, she would be the person who was the least willing to lie. Although she wins marriage, she lost love. Is it not an innocent thing to marry a man who doesn’t love herself? Is it not a melancholy thing for a beautiful lady to stay up with a man whose heart belongs to another woman? Even though, she tries her best to run her marriage and maintain her family. Even she had died thinking the world a good place, full of loving and harmonious households like her own. For the sake of the family, Newland gives up what he most wants, but May’s sacrifice is no less than him.

In addition to the traditional conventions, their psychological barrier is another factor that causes the tragedy. When pursuit her personal happiness, Ellen always takes others’ feelings into consideration, fearing of hurting others. She tries her best to make a balance between the loyalty to their love and the fairness to others. Her kindness determines her to choose a self-sacrifice way. Compared with Ellen, Newland is less rebellious. Although he detests the traditional customs and sharply criticizes the moral ethics, his rebellion and resist is limited within his inner world. When confronted with the cruel reality, he is indeed a coward. He doesn’t have the guts to discharge his engagement to May. He is at the mercy of fate. When he found Ellen is beside the lake, instead going up toward to her, he chose to let the God to control his life. He said to himself” if she doesn’t turn before that sail crosses the Lime Rock light I’ll go back.” She didn’t turn on earth, and once again they missed each other. After Ellen’s leave, he yields to the fate. Finally, he becomes a loyal husband and a good citizen. 26 years later, when he recalls his past life, he understands that it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it kept the dignity of a duty. After all, there was good in the old ways. They were defeated by the traditional conventions, as well as by themselves.

Conclusion:

We all hope that “Jack shall have Jill; all shall be well” and most love story endings appeal to our expectations. However, this one is an exception, which sublimates their love. It seems a little lonely. In fact, in this three-person love, no one is the winner. Newland and   May’ encounter is what we said “meet the wrong person in right time”; Newland and Ellen’s encounter is what we said” meet the right person in wrong time”. May wins marriage, Ellen on the contrary. Newland wins love at the expense of stay together with May. Yet the conventions are strengthened. In that circumstance, love is lighter than feather while morality and justice are heavier than Mount Tai. When confronted with them, you will be sure to lose if you put all your counters on love. Love is certainly beautiful, but it is not whole life. Love is just like one of the seven colors of a rainbow. Without the other six colors, rainbow does not exist. Sometimes it is better to give up that color because there are still six colors, the rainbow does exist and it’s still beautiful. That is true life and that is what I have learned from the novel.

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