Hey Society, you good?

 

In The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, her story begins with the introduction of late 1800s aristocratic, New York along with a wealthy young man, Newland Archer. With the introduction of Archer it quickly becomes clear of his place is New York’s extremely wealthy upper class. In knowing his place the reader becomes introduced to his fiancée in an equal extravagant venue that matches up to the couples lifestyle. By starting the novel this way, Wharton establishes the status of the characters and the setting, these proving integral to Archer’s thoughts on this New York society and its flaws. The reader is exposed to the extravagance of it all through the descriptions made by Wharton within the first few pages. Newland Archer begins to challenge the idea of how society should be and becomes aware of the issues with the society that he is so tightly knit into.

With this in mind I became aware of the slight similarities between The Age of Innocence and The Catcher in the Rye, mainly due to the fact that both novels center around the snobbish upper side of New York and its flaws from the perspective of a male protagonist. Both characters ideas are fostered off of their experiences and mainly relationships with the friends and family members surrounding them. Although I am not far enough into the book to understand the complex meanings behind Archers actions along with his beliefs, they do in a way mirror the intense curiosity held by Holden Caulfield. In these similarities there are also major differences such as the time periods being off by about half a century, yet both characters hold the same animosity for their version of affluent society.

One Reply to “Hey Society, you good?”

  1. This is such a great view on the introduction to the book! I am also reading “The Age of Innocence”, and I completely agree with the beginning paragraph of your response, I concluded the same findings from my reading as well. However, I did not even think about “The Catcher in the Rye” when I was reading. That is such a great comparison because of the protagonist’s opposing viewpoint on society in both novels. Now that you have brought this to my attention I am for sure going to look out for it in further reading. Personally I was getting Great Gatsby vibes from the reading because of the affluent upper class society in opposition to the outsiders from lower classes. I really appreciate your insight on the book and look forward to comparing our interpretations in chapters to come.

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