Study Guide for Important Book Quotes from The Age of Innocence

These important quotes from Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence might help your understanding of the themes perfectly located at the novel.
Quote: '. . . in metropolises it was 'not the thing' to arrive early in the opera; and the fact that was or had not been 'the thing' played an important part as important in Newland Archer's New York because inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers many thousands of years ago." (Book One, Chapter 1)
Analysis: This quote explains very at the beginning of the text the important role that society and its rules can play in the novel. The lives of those that are a part in the upper crust of New York society are governed by way of a set of conventions, which dictate everything from what one wears to where one travels to how early one arrives at the opera. Everyone knows the principles, and everyone is watching to be sure they are adhered to. This is a system that is around for generations, then there is much because system that Newland find comforting. Eventually Newland will come to question these rules, but he's never capable to walk away from them entirely. He and the generation will continue caught up in these arbitrary restrictions. However, the next generation will ultimately toss them aside being unimportant.




eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'brighthubeducation_com-medrectangle-2']));


Quote: "The persons of the world lived in the atmosphere of faint implications and pale delicacies, and the fact that he and he or she understood one another without a word gave the impression to the son to bring them nearer than any explanation would have done." (Book 1, Chapter 2)
Analysis: One of the things that pulls Newland to May Welland is the fact they originated in the same background. They were raised in the same social circle and understand its mores. He feels that common background draws them together. It is also part of what makes Newland think May is the perfect woman being his wife. While this common bond is surely an attraction to Newland, in the course in the book, he actually starts to feel he needs more. His infatuation with Ellen brings him into connection with a woman not the same as May, one who was raised outside with their social circle. This causes her to get more independent than May, both emotionally and intellectually. In the end, however, May is capable to use the common bond of society and its particular expectations to help keep Newland in the marriage.




eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'brighthubeducation_com-netboard-1']));


Quote: "In reality each of them lived inside a kind of hieroglyphic world, in which the real thing was not ever said or done or even thought, but only represented by the set of arbitrary signs . . . . " (Book One, Chapter 6)
Analysis: This is one in the more often cited lines from the ebook. The line explains what it's like to live in the New York culture of which May and Newland were members. It was just like a secret society where just the members knew the principles, that had been unwritten and unspoken. That is what got so difficult for someone like Ellen being accepted in this world. She was an outsider who were not sure or understand the guidelines and so was constantly breaking them. Also, this caused it to be easy for her to become pushed out from the society when she was perceived as a threat.
Quote: "He shivered a little, remembering some with the new ideas in the scientific books, along with the much-cited instance of the Kentucky cave-fish, which had ceased to build up eyes since they had no use for them. What if, when he previously bidden May Welland to start hers, they could only look out blankly at blankness?" (Book One, Chapter 10)
Analysis: Newland has always imagined being capable of open May's eyes around the world. He had wanted a wife he could mold, intellectually and emotionally. He had wanted to introduce her to items that were important to him, such as art, travel, and literature. However, it really is occurring to him that May may not be as pliable while he thinks in addition to being open to transforming into a different sort of woman. Newland is suddenly up against the idea that May isn't as capable of change while he has imagined her to get, and he begins to believe that she may turn in to a carbon copy of her mother, who plays beautifully the role from the perfect society wife. Of course, he has been foolish to love a girl in the hopes of changing her, but he's held onto a sort of male arrogance that has led him to believe it is his duty to 'form" his wife into his preferred image.
Quote: "There were certain things which had to be done, and when done in any respect, done handsomely and thoroughly; the other of these in the old New York code, was the tribal rally around a kinswoman about to become eliminated from the tribe." (Book 2, Chapter 33)
Analysis: Here the ability and unity with the New York society is illustrated as the people come together to say goodbye to Ellen as she returns to Europe. May has utilized the societal rules that she has been raised so that you can protect her marriage whilst Newland. She knows he'll almost certainly not leave her once he realizes she actually is pregnant, knowning that Ellen wouldn't normally let him even consider doing such a thing. She is capable of rally the other members of these society around her and push out Ellen, as Newland sees throughout the farewell dinner party that May insists on hosting on her cousin. At this same time, Newland realizes that everyone believes he's been disloyal with Ellen, and they are eager to get rid of her to be able to restore social normalcy. Ironically, it's not the fact that he was unfaithful to May that could have been a Dating girls difficulty. It is the fact that he was considering leaving her for another woman.