A Further Exploration Of "Innocence" In The Age Of Innocence

Edith Wharton is considered to be one of the most important novelists at the turn of 20^th century.She enjoyed a high reputation for her great talent in writing and her relief work during World War I.Her masterpiece The Age of Innocence deals with a romance,and finally a breakup of a young couple,with the heroine coming from Europe and the hero a native New Yorker.The novel expresses not only the gender relation and ideology of the later part of the 19^th century,but also the attitude America holds toward European culture which is represented by the heroine.Heavily influenced by the Puritanism,New Yorkers were provincially narrow-minded and prejudiced.In that traditional patriarchal society,marriage was determined and arranged by the family.Women's freedom and the idea of divorce were not accepted. Man and woman were separate worlds which led to alienated gender relation.The concept of "innocence" in The Age of Innocence has aroused much interest among critics and readers.This paper explores the meaning of "innocence",which to me means ignorance.It contains layers of meaning;however,this paper mainly concentrates on two aspects,that is,America's alienation from the outer world, especially the Europe and the male's alienation from the female.There are four parts in this thesis.In the first part,it introduces the major criticism that has done on Edith Wharton and her works.It also gives a brief introduction of Wharton's life which has a great effect upon her writing.In the second part,it analyzes the first meaning of "innocence"--American's alienation from Europe.The third part goes with the second meaning of "innocence"--men's separation from women.It argues that the conservative tradition not only causes alienation and misunderstanding between the hero and heroine,but also the America's separation from Europe,which is symbolized by the breakup of the protagonists respectively.The fourth part draws a conclusion that "innocence" in The Age of Innocence reflects the social environment of New York in 1870s.Edith Wharton expresses her complex feelings towards the tradition of her own native country and her sympathetic feeling toward the sense of women's freedom at that age.