The Age of Innocence | Themes
In the Newland Archer plot, Wharton presents one of her favorite themes, the sacrifice of artistic, romantic impulses for family duty and societal respectability. Newland Archer, a young lawyer from one of New York's best families, thinks he is in love with the exotic Countess Ellen Olenska and even entertains the thought of leaving his wife for her, but when he learns that his wife May is pregnant, he abandons all hope of love and happiness and decides to stay with May.
The difficulty of genuine human communication in the upper strata of society is an important theme in the...
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