The Age Of Innocence, By Edith Wharton

The book “The Age of Innocence”, has a lot of different characters in it that make big impacts during the book. Those characters happen to be Newland Archer, May Welland Archer, and Ellen Olenska. Obviously the first two characters happen to be married to each other. There are some plot twist during the story, that don’t really turn out the way you think.

The first character, Newland Archer, is a study in intellectual conflict, but under the surface little contradiction actually exists, as his wife knows well. He is a young lawyer and man about town, arrives stylishly late and, like his friends, observes the box of old Mrs. Manson Mingott where Newland's, soon to be fiancé, is sitting with family members. Newland considers with warmth and

May Welland Archer begins the novel in ignorance, and ends it in wisdom. She marries Newland, her slim intellectual abilities never vary, but her wisdom in manipulating Newland grows immensely.May is the perfect society bride: Newland's role will be to train her in social tact, wit, and the art of "attracting masculine homage while playfully discouraging it." Ironically, Wharton mentions that if Newland dug down deeply enough in his vanity, he might realize that a sexually knowledgeable wife would be much more sophisticated and eager to please. Always worrying about what her mother will think because her mother is very important to her, May manages Newland's life; she arranges every minute of his schedule at Newport, becoming the image of her mother after two years of marriage. . She sends Newland a letter from Florida reminding him of her kindness just as he is ready to fall for Ellen's charms. Her strategic actions throughout the novel show that she has learned well at her mother's side. She cannot fulfill Newland's desires for an emotional life or intellectual stimulation, but with true Wharton irony she does symbolize the perfect wife and marriage partner for his social class time. Like other women, she keeps Newland on the straight, narrow; pronouncing any deviation from the norm to be "vulgar" and unthinkable. May Welland is exactly what she has been trained to be: the perfect helpmate of civilized

Ellen fulfills Newland's longing for an emotional fantasy life. Her words, her unconventional taste in clothing, interior decorating, and her attitudes symbolize the exotic to traditional Newland. She causes him to question his narrow existence and brings out his protective instincts. Countess Ellen Olenska represents a dream of the unconventional, more passionate life for which he will never sacrifice everything. Where May is ice, Ellen is fire. They are total opposites of each other. Emotionally, she is the opposite of May Welland Archer. Ellen's lack of concern for social rules and etiquette make her a target of malicious tongues, but a heroine of the dispossessed. Ellen later on ends up falling in love with Newland. This makes it possible for May to use Ellen's softness to her advantage because she knows that Ellen will never run away with Newland when May reveals her possible pregnancy. Ellen knows that they cannot live a life outside of convention without hurting others. May uses her knowledge of his commitment to keep him faithful. Even 26 years after his wedding, he realizes that his conventional life has the comforting feeling of the place where he belongs. The reader is left to consider that she never married again; living a single woman's life in