The Dogma in Forced Conformity

Carla Paulette Botello

Humanities
04/25/2016
Throughout Edith Whartons The Age of Innocence, modern readers can ask themselves
the same question over and over again: what did these people have to sacrifice in an effort to be
innocent? The book concentrates on New Yorks high class society and the social norms and

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expectations the wealthy society elite had to abide by. Although society seems impeccable, it is
painted in such a way as so that stained actions can be hidden underneath the veil of high society.
Whartons views broughten upon the American society were after experiencing the
damage mankind had established in the world she lived in -World War I. Her views on what
makes people American in the past were completely changed. Now, the author considers that
to be able to recognize anyone as American, the person had to follow the subsequent norms:
they had to be insensitive, had excessive vanity and ignorance. Readers can see such norms
established in her text with different perspectives on how the perfect lady should act and the way
silencing women was just another part of a quotidian life. Silence has been addressed as a
feminist issue throughout history. Throughout her novel, Wharton portrayed silence as a
characteristic of social control in Old New York society.
It is hard to imagine that such a story wouldn't end with a happily ever after. As stated by
Richard Grenier, with Edith Wharton, love never conquers all. Societys moral conventions
conquer all. (1) Modern readers are so used to the traditional ways romantic love stories are
arranged -the characters meet, fall in love and live happily ever after- that it normally affects
people's expectations on how things shall end. To understand her way of manner, readers must
discuss her past so they can view what thoughts and actions had caused her to see such
characters in this demeanor. They need to examine the multi layers on the meaning of innocence,
these include: no divorce, sweet everything and no personal opinions.
To begin, the main representatives of the Old New York in this novel will be the van der
Luydens and Sillerton Jackson. These are families that date back to the beginning of the
formation of social classes. These are the judges and juries of any action, they state what things

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are acceptable for people to do and what are appropriate scandals. They know everything about
everyone and can silence anyone that seems to have inadequate information.
Wharton grew up in a time period where women's opinions didn't matter. Where every
wealthy elite male had the same future - the book says, ...exercised the profession of the law in
the leisurely manner common to well-to-do New Yorkers of his class.(10 Wharton)- and every
wealthy elite female had to follow this male whereever they would go. It was just a big pattern
passed on from generations to generations, be the perfect woman and you will get the perfect
man. The world they lived in was filled with lies, ...they all lived in a hieroglyphic world, where
the real thing was never said or done or even thought. (Wharton 6) This meaning that
everything expressed an said was only the image that they wanted to show, but the hidden
meaning took longer to comprehend.
The author wrote this work using her own life as an example of the obstacles she - and
many women - had to overcome in order to find the fulfillment of their potential. Throughout her
marriage, she was unhappy with her husband - Edward Wharton- because he lacked any artistic
or intellectual interests. (3) Readers can see a similarity starting to form with characters
represented in the novel. Can it be that Wharton decided not to represent her views as her being a
woman in her own story but as a man? Wharton so much as used Newland Archer to articulate
what no female character could have possibly said in the novel, Women ought to be free - as
free as we are.(5 Wharton) She is able to express her opinion into demonstrating and addressing
a problem that was agreed to be non existential. She uses this as a way to represent that people
sacrificed their happiness for the duty they were given by their families.
Silence is known to impose repression which reinforces the traditional view of the
appropriate condition for women.(5) Wharton can demonstrate that silence and silencing others

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was a form of control in the social standards of Old New York. Readers can understand her
feelings towards feminism in the way her text is portrayed. The author shows readers Newlands
perspective: women should express more their opinions and have thoughts of their own instead
of just agreeing with everything they were supposed to agree in order not to fight with their
beloved couple and soulmate. Archer wants a women who can express her opinions, who can
stand up for themselves, someone who shares his desire to learn more about cultures and art -just
like the author had in her life.
Not only did Newland realize that there never was an ...age [were] nice women began
to speak for themselves.(10 Wharton) But he understands that women have to wait for a men to
speak to them first. As Janis P. Stout once voiced, the woman is no more expected to lead in
conversation than she is in ballroom dancing.(5) Maintaining the existing state of affairs meant
silencing women.
The American Revolution had been fought since 1775 through 1783.(8) This war was
fought to win the patriots freedom from tyranny. Yet women had not gained any freedom from
such war. Just after a small Tea Party one afternoon, these patriotic women shared the ideal of
improving the New Republic.(10)
Throughout history, there have been women who without them having the courage to
stand up for what they believe in, society wouldn't be where it is currently. Some of these women
include Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Simone de Beauvoir, and many more. These are
women that raised feminist consciousness and left their mark in the world. Due to this, the 19th
amendment now gives all citizens the right to have their voice heard.(7)
A remarkable speech Stanton once said states, These boys and girls are one to-day in
school, at play, at home, never dreaming that one sex was foreordained to clutch the stars, the

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other but to kiss the dust. But watch awhile, and you will see these dashing, noisy, happy, healthy
girls grow calm and pale and sad, and een though lodged in palace homes mid luxury and ease,
with all the gorgeous trappings wealth can give, rich silks, bright jewels, gilded equipage, music,
dancing, books, flowers, they still are listless and dissatisfied.(6) Stanton wrote this from
experience, having herself lived a life of leisure. She didn't want girls to feel that everything they
did or said had to be done in accordance to what some man considered to be correct.
May Welland is introduced to the reader in the beginning as being a sign of pureness,
everything as things must be, and well clearly traditional. On the other hand, Countess Ellen
Olenska is introduced as having unconventional taste, compassionate, she has a lack of concern
for social norms, and she is clearly exotic in every way. Everything Newland wants, he finds in
Ellen. She is not like anyone he has ever known before, her presence brings him a sense of
freedom from everything he must do in the suffocating society. Wharton is able to demonstrate
and express how afraid Newland was to see marriage become ...a dull association of material
and social interests held together by ignorance on one side and hypocrisy on the other.(6
Wharton) Every time he finds something that makes him fall more in love with Ellen, it is just
another sign of remorse to fill his conscience in needing to marry May.
Some examples to support aforementioned ideas on Ellen Olenska, would be both
incidents when Ellen left her conversation with the Duke to go and talk with Newland -Wharton
states, It was not the custom in New York drawing-rooms for a lady to get up and walk away
from one gentleman in order to seek the company of another...(8 Wharton); and when Ellen
expressed her distaste of the van der Luydens house -the author communicated, ...for few were
the rebellious spirits who would have dared to call the stately home of the van der Luydens
gloomy. (9 Wharton)

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Readers understand the conflict Newland continually has during the story, he was caught
in between fighting for something that was right in society against something that he felt right in
his heart. The author states, ...it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it
kept the dignity of duty. (34 Wharton) The novels gentlemen did get the girl in the end, but she
wasn't the girl romantic novel endings are expected to have; Newland decided to stick to
societys norms and lived his marriage as a duty.
They lived in a world where, The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and
usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an
absolute tyranny over her.(9) They have recently fought free themselves from a tyranny when in
reality they became one towards the weaker of the few, limiting them into the thoughts and
actions that are a must.
The author incorporates the harsh world for women in this time period into her book by
giving many examples, these which include the following: the engagement of May Welland and
Newland Archer, and the marriage of Countess Ellen Olenska to Count Olenski. Let's take the
latter as an example, Ellen Olenska was married to Count Olenski and they moved away to
Europe. After a few years of marriage, Ellen decides to leave her husband and return to her
family in New York City. This change of mind isn't out of the blue, Countess Olenska has
knowledge of her husband being a brute to her physically and verbally as well as cheating on her
with various women's. When she decides to take the great step to leave her husband -something
we greatly value in today's world- she is shamed by her family. This was the world with people
...who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage... (33 Wharton)
It would have taken a very strong and brave person to stand for something she believed in, even
though everyone else stood against her.

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Wharton was ashamed of what the New America had come upon, the way marriage was
made into a duty instead than for the true love of people, were following the latest fashion in
Paris was vulgar and you had to wait at least two years in order to wear that dress you liked so
much; just simply a place where being a women was degrading.(Wharton) If someone wished to
cease living in such ways, to extract themselves from this so called community they were seen
as outcasts and were never forgotten. Wharton points out as well that men throughout history are
seen as the following: visible, valuable, and accessible. Women on the contrary, are seen as the
following: invisible, silent, and buried.(5)
Louis Auchincloss discusses Wharton's work in an interesting manner, he conveys,
...under the thick glass of convention blooms the fire, fragile flower of patient suffering and
denial. To drop out of society is as vulgar as to predominate; one must endure and properly
smile. (1) And this is exactly what every character did in this novel, including the female roles.
May -and mostly everyone that knew them- thought Archer was having an affair with Ellen. All
she and everyone did was smile it off, be the perfect wife and try not to stain the family name.
Ellen was willing to go back to her brute of a husband just because her family wasn't willing to
consider her part of their society if she was to bring shame upon their name. Also, Ellen was
willing to leave for the good of maintaining sanctity to Newlands name.
Discussing the topic of the scandalous affair between Newland Archer and Ellen
Olenska, it is broughten to the reader's attention the difference in reactions due to sex.
Unspeakable acts -in this case a kiss- mark man as foolish while on the other hand, woman are
marked as criminals.(5)
Women -though they weren't given much of anything- had to sacrifice themselves in
order to maintain the social order.(5) Readers can see that both female characters do things that

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cause them grief for males -May in her willingness to give up her engagement to make Newland
happy and Ellen in the action of leaving so as to not damage Newlands life. Wharton shows Old
New Yorks triumph in silencing women. Eby voices, the ability to silence dissent is a
communal power and New York silences whatever it designates as unpleasant scandal,
authentic suffering, anything foreign, any harbinger of change.(5) Here readers can understand
that everything unknown could be seen as dangerous, so it was best to not mess with it.
Along the same lines of silence readers can say ...ignoring is not the absence of actions
or speech but their active suppression and denial. (5) Ignoring is always done in good faith
with the thought that the effects are only on oneselves, but that could be farther from the truth.
Ignoring or lying -however people want to understand the idea- are don in harm of others and
oneself.
With discussing the aforementioned topics, the reader can come upon the capacity for
silent communication. Modern readers notice at the end of the novel, Wharton mentions the way
a younger generation sees this strange way of communication -Dallas Archer, son of Newland
Archer. During a conversation towards the end of the novel, Dallas and Newland come upon the
topic of unspoken communication. It reads, You never did ask each other anything, did you?
And you never told each other anything. You just sat and watched each other, and guessed at
what was going on underneath. A deaf-and-dumb asylum, in fact!(34 Wharton) The text can
compare and contrast the differences both generations demonstrate, having Dallas knowing more
about his own mother and wife than Newland ever truly knew about May.
Eby stated,New Yorks unspoken communication is a power thats kills.(5) Because
there are no spoken words between such communication, you can erase the complete existence
of every spoken sentence.

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In the world where Dallas lives, the small museum -on which Ellen and Newland talked
one afternoon- is a known place for artists to visit. Exercising the profession of the law
[common] to well-to-do New Yorkers of his class...(10 Wharton) were not the only paths now,
more liberal choices of careers were open. While in Newlands time, Professor Emerson Sillerton
was considered to be revolutionary and dangerous because he was an archeologist. The author
states, Professor Emerson Sillerton was a thorn in the side of Newport society; and a thorn that
could not be plucked out, for it grew on a venerable and venerated family tree.(22 Wharton)
Even though this gentleman did not follow the norms to their expectations, he was related to
Sillerton Jackson making him unremovable from society.
Wharton expresses her divided in two perspective broughten upon by the aftermath of
World War I. Wharton sees silence as means of social control established by the Old New York
which takes into action silencing the free women to balance everything created. The author,
Edith Wharton can give her perspective as a feminist throughout her novel The Age of
Innocence. She herself can not state the question that poises Newland, but she finds a way to
bring awareness to a topic that was agreed to have no problem. Women have the same rights as
men and no sex or society can silence the freedom given to women.

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Works cited:
1. "Society & Edith Wharton - Commentary Magazine." Commentary Magazine.
N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. <https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/societyedith-wharton/>.
2. Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence. New York: Scribner, 1968. Print.
3. "Edith Wharton." Edith Wharton. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/wharton/whar3.htm>.
4. Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Age of Innocence Society and Class Quotes."
Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

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5. Eby, Clare Virginia. "Silencing Women in Edith Wharton 's The Age of
Innocence." Digitalcommons.colby. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2915&context=cq>.
6. "Voices of Democracy | Stanton, Our Girls, Speech Text." Voices of Democracy.
N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
7. "Elizabeth Cady Stanton." Hisotry.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 5 June 2016.
<http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/elizabeth-cady-stanton>.
8. American Revolution History. History.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 5 June 2016.
<http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history>.
9. "History of Women's Right's Movement." National Women's History Project.
N.p., 1998. Web. <http://www.nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/history-ofthe-womens-rights-movement/>.