Ambivalence In Edith Wharton's The Age Of Innocence

As the first female writer who has ever received the Pulitzer Prize and also the Honorary Degree from the Harvard University, Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is recognized as one of the masters in the American literary canon. Despite the canonical honors, she is nevertheless a writer of ambiguity.This thesis makes her prize winning novel The Age of Innocence its major concern and elucidates the ambivalent attitudes revealed in it. The introductory part presents the thesis statement and lays the theoretical ground for the ensuing discussion. In other words, the thesis mainly follows the feminist approach in its critical evaluation of the novel. The body part of the thesis consists of four subsections. The first section compares the two heroines, May Welland and Ellen Olenska, so as to lead to an understanding of Wharton's ambivalence toward the woman issue. That is to say, she still cannot find a way for women who live in a suppressive patriarchal society. The second section touches upon society's double standard toward men and women. In a patriarchal society, men are expected to work in the public realm whereas women are conditioned to be in the private sphere. Wharton is shown as holding an ambiguous view on the prescribed gender roles. The third section transcends the feminist point of view while it gives a further study of the paradoxical relationship between individual and society. As a consequence, the thesis raises the question of what underlies the social order. Finally, the thesis ascribes all the ambivalence embodied in The Age of Innocence to Wharton's own life experience. That is to say, throughout her lifetime, Wharton was trapped in the dilemma of whether to conform to the prescribed role or to search for her own identity. The concluding part designates this as an internalization of the external ideological conflict in society.