What was Edith Wharton's purpose for writing The Age of Innocence?
Edith Wharton's background was very much like the characters she depicted in the novel. She, like Newland Archer and May, came from old money. Like Newland, she felt pressured into a marriage that was approved by her family and with somewhat unhappy consequences. Unlike Newland who remained in his marriage, though, Edith Wharton divorced her husband.
Wharton actually wrote the novel for herself. She wrote it while she was working on a much more ambitious project. When the novel was published, she was quite shocked by its success. She expected it to have a limited audience, and was surprised by the number of readers who could relate to some of the choices that the main characters made.
While Wharton exposes the flaws of Old New York society, she also portrays some of its strengths as well. At the heart of the story are Ellen, May, and Newland. Each sacrifices...
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with grace and honor his or her own personal happiness for what they consider the greater good. Ellen will not run off to marry Newland because she will not hurt her cousin May. Even though Newland did give up the "flower of his life," he makes the best of a passionless marriage and lives an honorable life, being a good public servant and a loving father. And May, who knew about her husband's passion for Ellen all along, gives Newland an out before they announce their engagement, but when he decides to go through with the marriage, she fights nobly to keep her family intact.
So, Wharton's purpose seems to expose the both the strengths and weaknesses of Old New York society at the turn of the century.
Considering that most of Edith Wharton's stories were written as historical fiction to reflect the situational dramas of her time, we can safely assume that she wrote The Age of Innocence under the same premise that she wrote The House of Mirth, which was to expose the New York "Victorian" society in the early 20th century.
Additionally, her purpose as an author was to let the audience peek into the lives of the nouveau riche of New York and compare them to the old, established dutch families who seemed to rule it.
In The Age of Innocence there are a lot of hypocritical standards, which basically rule society. When you cannot be a part of it by peerage, you could be a part of it by new money. Yet, old New York is ruled by names, and if you fail to comply with their rules, you are as good as dead. That is the basic problem in the story, and that is why Edith Wharton (just like she has done with so many of her stories) exposed that reality.
What was the author's purpose in writing "The Age of Innocence"?
This book by Edith Wharton was published in 1920, a time of change. World War I had devasted most of Europe and left a generation of people, young and old, feeling cynical and bitter about life, society, and government. There had been too many horrors to bear. Society began to change, as many of the old Victorian traditions of behavior were challenged - but as is always the case, change is threatening and society tried to cling to the old ways.
Wharton's book is satirical in many ways. It shows New York City society at the time and the restrictions of behavior that an individual faced, particularly an female individual. It criticized the attempts of society to lock people in gender and social roles, not allowing individuals to get ahead if they did anything to tamper their all-important reputation. It also worked to caution against too much change, to show that a drastic upheaval of tradition would cause many to feel lost and aimless. Overall, the purpose was to point out the conflict between an individual and the rules of the society that individual lived in.
What is the author's purpose in writing The Age of Innocence?
We can often equate purpose with theme, which might help you in your analysis of this excellent novel. To aid you further, I have included a link below to the enotes section of this novel about the themes that there are. You might want to look at this to help you consider other themes.
However, for me, this novel is essentially about an age-old conflict that forms the basis of so many works of literature. The individual vs. society places individual characters with their feelings, dreams and emotions, up against the harshness of society with its norms and established conduct of behaviour. Relating this conflict to the novel, we can see that Newland Archer wants to be with Ellen, but what prevents him from making such a radical decision is the pressure of society. Although he is clearly presented as a torn character, trying to balance his own desire with what is expected of him by society, ultimately society wins as he realises that he can never reject the demands of society upon him. The carefully planned announcement of May's pregnancy, and the new series of responsibilities that it necessarily involves, clearly is May's final trump card that she plays with full awareness of what it will mean for both Ellen and her husband. This is made clear in Chapter 33, when May confesses that she told Ellen she was sure of her pregnancy even before she was:
Her colour burned deeper, but she held his gaze. "No; I wasn't sure then--but I told her I was. And you see I was right!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes wet with victory.
At the end of the day, the demands of society are greater than Newland's own personal will and desire, and this is what ends his relationship with Ellen as his personal passion is sacrificed for the good of his family.
Let us not forget the way in which Ellen faces a similar conflict. Hoping for a divorce, she is disheartened to discover that she will be rejected unless she stays married. Ironically, Newland has to advise her that her own personal desires and happiness are secondary to the way in which her divorce would impact her family. She, like Newland, bows to the power of society by remaining married against her own personal wishes.