From Innocence To Experience:Analysis Of The Reification Theme Of The Age Of Innocence

Edith Wharton,who lived at the turn of the 20^thcentury and in the period of the rising capitalism in old New York,is a very famous female writer in the history of American literature.She is known for novels of manners,which mostly describe the miseries and surrenders of the old New Yorkers in the specific social environment.The Age of Innocence pertains to such type.It describes the indecisiveness of a noble youth,Newland Archer,facing May Welland and her cousin Ellen Olenska.It won the Pulitzer Prize in Literature in1921,and its popularity as well as literary value has aroused the attention of critics of different times.In 1923,Lukacs,an important representative of Western Marxism,published History and Class Consciousness.The book criticizes the phenomenon of reification along the path of commodity—spatialization of time—reification of consciousness.It explains the theory of reification by refuting goods fetishism and advocates that the idea“social existence determines social consciousness”be applied to literary analysis,which marks the maturity of the theory.In light of this theory,the present thesis attempts to examine the reification theme in The Age of Innocence.In the era of Wharton's life,the American society was entering the highly developed stage of capitalism,so that the economic and social structure had changed greatly,which posed threats and challenges to the old New Yorkers.The nouveaux rich were emerging,bringing with them new social contradictions.In order to resist the invasion of the new force,the old aristocratic elites took culture and cultivation as their weapon to deny the nouveaux rich.They tried to adopt such things as culture,costumes,and etiquette as the highest criteria so as to consolidate their own class status in the old New York society.However,the old elites were soon submerged in the new world pervaded with materials and decayed morality.They were reified and even became subsidiaries of“things”,so that the relationship between society and people and that between people and people were dominated by materials.“innocence”the old New York emphasized was proved to“experience”,and the community spared no effort to regain the original order by expelling the scapegoats.But people in the society were assimilated by“things”or were reduced to puppets by the guidance of“things”.No matter in career or marriage,their behavior and consciousness are manifested in relation to the existence of“things”.This give-away to“things”will lead to their failure in life.Previous studies of Wharton's works were mostly done from feminist,naturalist,or some other perspectives.Based on relevant clues and corresponding historical facts,this thesis focuses on her masterpiece,The Age of Innocence,to probe into the social and family life in the old New York,aims to explore the profound influence of reification on society and its decisive role in people's life,thus showing the theme construction of reification.The analysis suggests that The Age of Innocence embodies Wharton's rational reflections on and criticism of the beleaguered American society,which further shows her self-examination and introspection as a responsible writer.