Summary: The story is told in the viewpoint of the story’s hero, Newland Archer, and is set in the upper class New York society of the late 1800s. He is set to marry the beautiful May Welland, but things started to change when the Countess Ellen Olenska, May’s cousin, comes back to New York after allegedly running away from her husband with her husband’s secretary. Ellen was somehow shunned by society for her scandalous past, but with the help of her family and Newland, society started accepting her. Throughout the process, she unknowingly influenced Newland’s beliefs when it came to happiness, society, and morals, leading him to fall in love with her–a love that is doomed from the very start due to Newland’s engagement to May and Ellen still being a married woman.
Review proper: I love the way that Wharton characterized the beauty and follies of New York society at that time. I think the book is actually Wharton’s commentary on what she thinks of her society. Likewise, the characters of the story were very well-drawn that you cannot help sympathizing with them. I, for one, identified well with Newland’s feelings of being trapped in the dictums of society and of his frustrations with May’s passive acceptance of the conventions that they are supposed to follow, regardless of their happiness.
Ellen, on the other hand, is a character that is pretty difficult to sketch. She has evolved from a naïve, carefree woman who did not care about what society dictates her to do into someone who values her family’s happiness more than her own. It is pretty unfortunate that fate always seemed to conspire against Newland and Ellen, for just when they have realized their love for each other, or they have formulated a plan to run away, something happens that throws all their efforts to the wind. And always, it is because of May.
In my opinion, May’s state is more pitiable than the fate of the star-crossed lovers, mainly because she is really the one trapped in the constraints of society. At first, I had the same opinion of her as that of Newland – a simple, naïve society woman. But as the story progressed, I could see that she is no simpleton; she is aware of the changes happening around her; it’s just that she chooses to ignore them and simply decides to just go on with her life and fulfil her duties as a wife to Newland. Beneath the delicate exterior, she also has a bit of a cunning side, but you can never blame her for that for what else can she do to keep her from losing her husband? Although she only has a supporting role in the story, May’s character is more appealing and complex to me than Ellen’s.
Favorite quotes and scenes: As much as I have enjoyed several well-written and emotional scenes in the book, my favourite scene would have to be the ending scene, in which Newland, finally free to love Ellen in the open because of May’s demise and Count Olenska’s death, decided not to pursue her anymore and simply walk away:
“It’s more real to me here than if I went up,” he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other… Newland Archer got up slowly and walked back alone to his hotel.
I cannot imagine a better ending on this novel. I cannot fully explain the ending here, but it is certainly not what the reader expects. It is a tragic ending, plain and simple. The star-crossed lovers never reunited, even if they had all the means to do so. Newland somehow realized that not only distance and time kept them apart, but the changes that must have come to them as well. They were not the same people that they used to be. Just as society changes, so do people and one’s regard for another. Why not stick to the Ellen of his imagination, lest it be ruined by the reality of meeting her again after all those years?
On my experience in reading the book: I was never the classic type. I finish reading classic books just for the sake of finishing what I started, all the while writhing in agonizing pain, for I never really enjoyed the writing style and the humor of classic authors. I won’t say that The Age of Innocence is any different, for I started reading it with excruciating slowness and forgot about it for several straight weeks before going back to what I was reading. But as I progressed, the story piqued my interest, and somehow I was able to devote more and more time to reading the book.
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