Edith Wharton's Philosophical Assumptions Underlying The Contradictions In The Age Of Innocence

Edith Wharton was by birth and breeding a member of New York's gentility class that discouraged intellectual quests and creative writing. However, she became one of the most important writers in America at the turn of the 20^th century, which was a time of great transformations. One of Wharton's literary themes was the impact of enormous change on man, as is the case in her Pulitzer-winning novel The Age of Innocence. In the novel, there are some contradictions concerning New York's established social order on the one hand and change on the other. In this thesis, by referring to Edith Wharton biographies written by R. W. B Lewis, Cynthia Griffin Wolff, and Benstock Shari; Wharton's own writings, critical and fictional; and writings by authors who influenced Wharton as a thinker, I will explore for Edith Wharton's philosophical assumptions underlying the contradictions in The Age of Innocence.Introduction contains a brief introduction of Edith Wharton, a description of the problems I will try to solve, the thesis statement, general information on researches done by others, a statement of the significance of this thesis, and a detailed description of the organization of the body part.Chapter One first investigates Edith Wharton's ideas about morals and conventions, so as to refute the critical opinion that The Age of Innocence is a...