The Age of Innocence critics

Question 1

May

Answer 1

‘she is a manufactured image of femininity’ – Ammons
‘Wharton insists that innocent May is both acient and artificial [old fake stereotype] … the victim of a deluded obsession with innocence’ - Ammons
McCrum = she is determined to marry her fiance and uses all the power of New York society to bring him to heel.

Question 2

Ellen

Answer 2

By Associating Ellen the character as the ‘other’ for Old New York, the novel depicts Ellen as a threat to society - Ledger

Like Edith Wharton she is determined to leave her husband - Wharton got a divorce in 1913 and moved to France.

Question 3

Newland Archer

Answer 3

By Being in Ellen’s orbit, Newland is able to have some excitment without having to create an exciting life of his own - Bussey —- like Nick
Archer and May’s marriage is bound by the tribal code of the elite = Herzberg
New land Archer fully understands and upholds the rules of etiquette = Bussey

Question 4

Society criticism

Answer 4

New York is a “prison of silent hypocrisy” = Pritchett
The fear of entrapment and of forced enclosure is a recurring theme = Edwards
Archer is ‘a product of convention’ = Ammons