Contextual Links Flashcards
The Victorian Conception of Womanhood
During this time period, the late 19th century America borrowed similar views to those currently in Victorian Britain. “True Womanhood” in their eyes required sexual purity and once she lost this, she was discredited in the eyes very much like Ellen Olenska in the novel. Additionally, women were expected to be submissive and passive, and recognise the need for the guidance and protection of men.
Modernism
Edith Wharton uses Newland Archer’s rejection of Victorian culture and norms as a method to which cause him to step back from his culture and observe it from the perspective of an outsider. Eventually Newland comes to think of his people as a “tribe” and conceptualizes the cultural practices he once took for granted as “rituals” and “taboos”. These are no different than those of the “primitives” or “savages” his culture persistently regards as “other” who are below them in terms of status.
Victorianism
Victorians regarded “culture” as morality and was something a person either possessed or lacked, usually by virtue of birth. However, the qualities of “culture” were occasionally conceded to those who did not meet its most exclusive criteria. In the novel, Mrs. Manson Mingott is a prime example of how one could enter the realm of the “cultured” through an advantageous marriage as her husband passed away before her, leaving her his land and wealth.
The American Gilded Age
This novel is set within the 1870s which was a period of rapid economic growth which blinded society to the truth of serious social problems by a glamorous image of success. This dynamic played a role in widening the gap of serious wealth inequality. The Age of Innocence deals solely with the very wealthy portion of society. However, Wharton wrote the book immediately after World War I, so it’s influenced by this retrospective view of the 1870s.
