A wonderful summary and analysis. The sentence that stood out to me was one you quoted:
How this miracle of fire and ice was to be created, and to sustain itself in a harsh world, he had never taken the time to think out;"
It's the word "harsh" that says so much. These are the wealthiest and most socially elite people in New York so what could be harsh?
I think of the detail Wharton provides of those society people who must take their own carriages because they are the top of the top. While those who are a little less bound by appearances can leave more rapidly by the "taxi" carriages, and thus their noses won't freeze.
So, clearly the "harshness" is the social conventions that must be obeyed because everyone in this insular world is being watched and judged and recorded, which is what this first chapter is all about. It's a gilded prison.
By the way the carriage anecdote reminded me of how the McCoys in Bonfire of the Vanities couldn't take a taxi to a party a few blocks away on Park Avenue because they thought that would be declasse. Instead, they had to hire a town car for the night at some ridiculous price.
On the word "harsh," I love how you've connected that to the idea of a "gilded prison." Michelle Pfieffer once said that Martin Scorsese called "The Age of Innocence" his most *violent* film of all the films he's made, and it's precisely due to the rigidity and cruelty of the self-effacing social conventions that must be obeyed to survive in this world.
And amazing anecdote about the carriage types! To me, the attention Wharton pays to details like these helps to highlight how *anxious* all these people must be. There are so many rules and ways to show up the "right way," down to the car you arrive in outside the venue. She is so good at pointing at all the little ways people have to spend energy to be correctly social, and what a waste of energy that often ends up being...
I agree with you wholeheartedly, it is so incredible how much historical, personal, and contextual detail Wharton gives in a few short pages!
To your point about art appreciation as a social performance, and there is an underlying feeling of wanting to be perceived as participating rather than actually participating. One of the first quotes I noted was, “It was one of the great liverystableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it,” which I think sets the tone for the apparent apathy towards the drama on stage in the opera house. And, to a degree, perhaps it represents Newland Archer's own psyche as a depiction of an upper class American man, educated and equipped with a multitude of resources to understand and evolve from his position in society, but content enough to remain exactly where he is, lacking the drive to devote too much thought to his role. Perhaps he is just as quick to flee from his passions as he is to run from them?
I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead of reading, thank you for the wonderful analysis and discussion on Chapter 1!
I am loving this idea of “participation.” Do you actually want to take part in your society, or are you just there to “look the part.” One seems a bit safer than the other, if tinged with a kind of removed cowardice.
Your reading of Newland as matching the tone of apathy is totally brilliant. I love that. And your question about how he’ll flee from his passions will be answered…!
Hi Haley, I'm excited to join this read-along and looking forward to all the insights and discussions to come. Thank you for your expertise!
This opening scene reminds me of the painting 'In the Loge' (1878) by Mary Cassatt (https://collections.mfa.org/objects/31365), except the reader seems to be in the position of the peering man in the background. I feel like one of the group of men gathered with Newland Archer, especially given the arch tone of the narrative voice, which I feel would suit someone gossiping while holding a pair of opera glasses. All the women are at a distance, being observed.
At the same time, what struck me most about the writing was the denseness and specificity of detail that feels quite claustrophobic: the different types of carriages, the 'Gothic library with glazed black-walnut bookcases and finial topped chairs', the 'two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel', the meticulous description of what the women are wearing (contrasted with the men who all wear white waistcoats and buttonhole flowers), the catalogue of family names and relationships. It sets up a world of complex and fussy social codes with a lot of 'things', that would be very effective at excluding outsiders.
So already in my experience of reading there's a sense of distance and proximity - a little like Newland's aloof yet outwardly conforming air.
That painting is *perfect!* Yes! I really love your reading of the reader being positioned as a "peering" attendee in another opera box -- and your attention to how the women are positioned in this space, as well. It's a fantastic reading of the dynamics taking place in the space! Even Christine Nilsson is observed, at a distance, up on the stage.
And you've completely nailed the tone here -- I'm loving that word, "fussy." The insistence on all these exhausting particularities and then that man, Newland, both at the center (in terms of being the character we're most invited to "get to know") and de-centered (as he has his magical evening of fantasy and staring at May disrupted by others).
Excellent. Thank you so much for reading along and sharing your thoughts!
Wharton's descriptions always seem to make me feel that I'm right in the thick of things, not watching as a film, but actually present. I don't know if you referencing the movie has influenced me, but while reading I was thinking that the blueprints for set and costume design were laid out perfectly. Your diagram shows that the direction has already been parsed as well. She's all but set the camera angles. So many themes from House of Mirth continue here: the stifling nature of societal convention; the fear and fascination of the outsider with new money; the centrality of mergers by marriage to the maintenance of this society; and of course the underestimation and repression of women's intellectual lives. Because we've already spent time in Newland Archer's head, this time it seems we'll get to see things from the male perspective. I'm hoping and expecting his arrogance will be challenged since this was one of the lines I highlighted: "This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded: such as the duty of using two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair, and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole." Does that ever seem like a description of someone primed to have his world rocked.
Maryann, I'm so glad you're here -- you always nail it with your comments! Yes! Wharton's way of writing feels particularly cinematic here, as it did in Grand Central Station at the outset of Mirth. I feel she's one of those authors who deeply understood the art of looking and noticing -- maybe that's what makes her prose so immersive. I'd love to see what you do with this theme, of filmic prose or immersive scene-setting, should you trace it.
And that's a great bit of foreshadowing, isn't it? What Newland takes for the "natural" is so obviously highly socially constructed...and you're so right that it's a perfect description for somebody who is about to "have his world rocked." That made me laugh out loud. No spoilers here...but that's exactly what this book is about!
My favorite sentence: “It was one of the great livery-stableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.”
This led to Wharton describing the transportation choices of either “Private broughams” or “the humbler but more convenient ‘Brown Coupe’.”
Yes! Nice, Patrick (so fun to see you here from bookstagram!). Nobody wants to stand outside in the cold, looking like they don't have the cash for a warm ride home!
So happy you're having fun already! I am beyond giddy!
What a dazzling first chapter, eh? I too was immediately drawn to the theme of life imitating art, to the outward performance and the internal musings of sir dilettante. Newland Archer is completely unaware that the reader is observing his observations as he observes others. It's voyeuristic in nature, someone's constantly watching, welcome to Old New York where society permeates the private world. It's as if Wharton is being naughty, sharing intimate details with the reader. But wait, there's more. A mystery woman arrives. Well now we're all at the edge of our seats, this is theatre, darling. End scene.
What struck me was how much hasn't changed -- there's just so much timelessness in her writing. Society's performances have merely shifted from Wharton's opera boxes to today's social media sites/apps.
First many thanks for doing this close read of The Age of Innocence.
I read your posts on sentence level reading and close paragraph reading and they were great. Thanks so much for sharing a method to really explore and open up a text .
What I noticed on this closer reading is that Wharton’s choice of Opera is not random but feeds into the novel as a whole. Archer steps into the club box at the opening of the garden scene of Faust when everything is perfect. At that moment Archer’s own life is perfect, secure in his own social standing, surrounded by his own peers, about to be engaged to a member of one of the most wealthy New York families ( they own their own box!). As the scene unfolds what’s happening on stage almost appears to be happening off stage. The text plays with the idea of performance and deceit, artifice and duplicity, the knowing and at the same time not knowing, or at least not wanting to know. Is someone going to sell his soul to the devil and who or what is the devil in old New York?
We arrive into the novel right on the cusp of social change for the city. There is a new elite gaining more power and influence. Archer’s own personal life is also about to change. He clings to the old ways yet he cannot help but notice the fault lines in his own thinking.
The society at large holds contradictory views and this is also evident in the specific character of Newland Archer. His thoughts about May are paradoxical - he wants her to be pure, innocent and ignorant of the world and yet he also longs for her to be more aware of her own sexuality and his desires, to be able hold her own amongst her peers but not outshine them. Double standards are everywhere beneath the surface. We see May through his eyes. He projects his own ideas about her onto the reader yet Wharton hints in the text that May is not so ignorant or even as innocent as Archer assumes. There is no hard evidence that what Archer believes of May is true.
His flaw is that he refuses to analyse his thoughts on any deep level, to strike out for himself, ‘to probe the bottom of his vanity.’ and instead he chooses to take the easier option of falling into line, to not engage in ‘bad form’ to follow the herd. Is this cowardice on his part?
There is no mention of Archer’s father. Where is he? Is he dead or has he left the family?
Hi Anna Maria! Amazing observations here -- wow! I love it. I'm so glad you're here for the read-a-long!
I feel like what you're picking up on, so early in the novel, is fantastic! You're noticing the tension between the micro and the macro, or the subject and the system that created him. I'm thinking about how the novel says that all the men focus their opera glasses on the "women who were the product of the system." As if the men wearing the glasses aren't just as shaped by that system as well! Just like you said: "Double standards are everywhere" in this chapter.
I also love that you've pointed out "there is not hard evidence that what Archer believes of May is true." That is so good. We have such a clear sense, from the start, that Archer is not our narrator and is NOT omniscient...does he think he is?
Your last two questions -- is this cowardice? and where is Archer's dad? Excellent questions to keep in mind as we continue reading!
I'm plunging into Wharton having read nothing by or about her beforehand. The first thing that captured my attention is the numbers: a story about the 1870s, published in 1920. Having just lived through a turn of the century ourselves, we can understand the need to look back on our past, our younger years, see where we started and how we've changed after so many cultural, societal and technological revolutions. Of course I could be wrong, I'm still out of my depth here, for now I'm sensing a mixture of nostalgia and critical exploration of the past.
Okay, I *love this* for you. I am even a little jealous: reading this novel knowing nothing about it or about Wharton is sure to be an amazing experience.
And you're pointing us to a fantastic theme in this novel already: the nostalgia! The desire to look back and feel that longing...but also to be critical of that past. Keep watching that theme. There's so much more to unravel there!
Joining this thread to say how excited I am to be reading along with you all and thank you to Haley for such a fantastic in-depth analysis that strikes the perfect balance.
Ellie, I love this suggestion about comparing the setting with our own in terms of (for me) looking back to the 1970s from the lofty vantage point of 2024. I shall definitely keep this perspective in mind as I read on.
Thank you, Haley. This post was just fantastic to read and consider—so in depth and generous; looking forward to this group/ virtual book club/ close reading experience etc. 🤓
Jordan pulled this sentence from the first chapter: “It was one of the great livery-stableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.” I laughed out loud because it reminded me of performances where folks leave before the encore so that they can get their car out of the parking garage quickly. By doing this they break the spell of the event and often miss something important/special/thrilling. So it’s not a new phenomenon…
I agree completely with Maryann: “Wharton's descriptions always seem to make me feel that I'm right in the thick of things, not watching as a film, but actually present.” This was especially true of this chapter – in my head I created a diagram like yours, glancing from one box to another, from the stage to the audience, from person to person as they came into focus.
I looked up information about Christine Nilsson and this performance of Faust at the “shabby” Academy actually happened. I was also thrilled to discover that she was likely the model for Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera!
I didn’t much care for Lily Bart at the beginning of The House of Mirth and I have the same feeling for Newland Archer – mold May Welland indeed. We shall see.
Lawrence Lefferts (I think he would enjoy the Met Gala) and Sillerton Jackson are key to giving us an insight into the societal norms/expectations of the day and provide the important line that leads into Chapter 2. A cliffhanger for sure!
This is going to be fun.
BTW, I diagrammed the first sentence the same way you did – and really enjoyed the exercise.
Hi Barbara! So glad you’re here for more Wharton! I love what you’re noticing here — and especially love this insight that Lawrence Lefferts would love the Met Gala! He totally would. He seems like a kind of E! Hollywood commentator or the kind of cultural commmentor like Ward McCallister (who helped Caroline Astor keep her List of 400).
And yes!! Christine inspired Christine! That’s such a fun historical tidbit. The Phantom novel was published in 1909, so it’s fun to think Nilsson had enough of a cultural impact to arrive in such keystone pieces of the literature about that time!
First, thank you for the wonderful summary and deep analysis of Chapter 1. I read the chapter and then your write up. Boy, did I miss a lot. I went back and read the chapter a second time. That is what I love about close reading & having someone like you guide us on this journey. Your note outline was beneficial in honing in my first impressions. The stage sketch was really helpful too. It zoomed in on Wharton's descriptions such as: eyes returned, glance flitting back, following Leffert's glance, etc.
My first impression of Newland Archer, was a bit of an eye-roll- he seems so pompous and came across as comical with his internal ideologies. Time will tell how his character develops. First impressions are everything though & I already feel sorry for Miss May.
The last line in this chapter had me perplexed. I wrote your quote in the margins, "What have they tried on?" Initially, I thought it meant the ladies wouldn't have tried on that dress, but now I'm not so sure." Do you think this sentence was written ambiguous or was it perhaps the dialogue one used in the 1870s?
So happy you’re here and I am so glad the note outline was helpful for you!
Your question about the final line is a great one! You’re picking up on the right tensions there: the line is playing a bit as a pun and an indictment of the Mingott choice to have this woman in their company (you’ll find out why soon). But keep pushing to think through the line and its many layered implications — there’s a lot to closely read there and I would love to see what you come up with as you think more on the line! (And how the line repeats in next week’s reading..!!)
Thank you for this excellent introduction Haley! My favourite part of ch 1 was the description of Sillerton Jackson. 'He knew all the ramifications of New York's cousinships...' Haha. And he carries a 'forest of family trees' in his head, along with 'a register of most of the scandals and mysteries that had smouldered under the unruffled surface of New York society within the last fifty years.' So so good.
You're welcome!! (I'm very excited to read Dalloway with you next month, btw!)
I love the attention you've paid to Jackson. He's such a fantastic character, especially in a chapter that's all about being seen and observing others. He's like a giant floating eyeball: taking it all in, remembering everything, recording it all.
Hi Haley, Reading so closely makes my head spin. There are so much happening. I have not read through your summary, and want to form my own first. Here‘s my main impression:
There are many pairs of „opposites“, or what would you call them, tensions? The old (the world of fashion/conservatives) vs. the new (the ‚new people‘, new opera house); the here (Academy of Music/Manhattan) vs. the there („above the Forties“); going to the operas but only for gossip („the boxes always stopped talking during the Daisy song“); Mr. Jackson‘s „reputation of discretion“ and his need of „finding out what he wanted to know“.
All these lead me to the recurring theme that is the hypocrisy of this society, this upper crust of late 1870’s New York. It is summed up nicely by the ideal wife that Newland Archer wishes for: „attracting masculine homage while playfully discouraging it,“ and „as worldly-wise and as eagerly to please“, which leads to a desire for the summarily ultimate pair of opposite: fire and ice. Or maybe it’s not hypocrisy, rather, not knowing what one wants?
On the other hand, we may say all societies are hypocritical to some degree. We champion one ideal but do something else. Perhaps it’s not fair of me to single out New York in the 1870s.
The other motif are flowers, the innocent daisies and lilies-of-the-valley vs. the less so roses, pansies, and gardenias, which forms another pair of contrast. Although I‘m not sure how this will play out, I have a feeling this will have a main role in the novel. In fact, the cover of my Vintage edition of the book is a painting of two yellow roses in a vast blackness.
My favourite sentence in this chapter: „… an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.“ I can’t say why. It’s just funny and so witty. It kind of reinforces the image of a (to borrow a new word I learned from Wharton) dilettante audience, who are there but not really there, so it really doesn’t matter what is sung or performed on stage.
Hi Lillian! So lovely to have you back for more Wharton and I love that you commented before reading the chapter guide — we have so many overlaps in our readings! I really like how you’ve traced Newland’s desires as being not just the 1870s in New York but perhaps as being quite human, quite recognizable. I love your question and it prompts a great one to set up your reading: Does Newland know what he wants?
Now that I’ve read your summary and analysis, I really like how you diagrammed the back and forth charged glances on and off stage!
I hope the last sentence will be explained in the next chapter of what exactly is being tried on. Related to this is a question of whether the mysterious woman has timed her arrival, making sure the fashionably late fashionable world has all arrived. If so then she must really know how to play this game.
As said, I can’t believe how much is packed in these few pages. Looking back I don’t know how much I missed in all the books I’ve read.
This is my first Wharton (I think?) and I'm so intrigued by the story already. I read the first chapter and annotated a little, then read your analysis and went back and re-read it twice more. There's so much I missed the first time through, so I'm grateful for this readalong that will enable me to take the story really slowly and notice more in it.
Haley,
A wonderful summary and analysis. The sentence that stood out to me was one you quoted:
How this miracle of fire and ice was to be created, and to sustain itself in a harsh world, he had never taken the time to think out;"
It's the word "harsh" that says so much. These are the wealthiest and most socially elite people in New York so what could be harsh?
I think of the detail Wharton provides of those society people who must take their own carriages because they are the top of the top. While those who are a little less bound by appearances can leave more rapidly by the "taxi" carriages, and thus their noses won't freeze.
So, clearly the "harshness" is the social conventions that must be obeyed because everyone in this insular world is being watched and judged and recorded, which is what this first chapter is all about. It's a gilded prison.
By the way the carriage anecdote reminded me of how the McCoys in Bonfire of the Vanities couldn't take a taxi to a party a few blocks away on Park Avenue because they thought that would be declasse. Instead, they had to hire a town car for the night at some ridiculous price.
Hi David! Thanks so much.
On the word "harsh," I love how you've connected that to the idea of a "gilded prison." Michelle Pfieffer once said that Martin Scorsese called "The Age of Innocence" his most *violent* film of all the films he's made, and it's precisely due to the rigidity and cruelty of the self-effacing social conventions that must be obeyed to survive in this world.
And amazing anecdote about the carriage types! To me, the attention Wharton pays to details like these helps to highlight how *anxious* all these people must be. There are so many rules and ways to show up the "right way," down to the car you arrive in outside the venue. She is so good at pointing at all the little ways people have to spend energy to be correctly social, and what a waste of energy that often ends up being...
Thanks for reading along, and for commenting!
I agree with you wholeheartedly, it is so incredible how much historical, personal, and contextual detail Wharton gives in a few short pages!
To your point about art appreciation as a social performance, and there is an underlying feeling of wanting to be perceived as participating rather than actually participating. One of the first quotes I noted was, “It was one of the great liverystableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it,” which I think sets the tone for the apparent apathy towards the drama on stage in the opera house. And, to a degree, perhaps it represents Newland Archer's own psyche as a depiction of an upper class American man, educated and equipped with a multitude of resources to understand and evolve from his position in society, but content enough to remain exactly where he is, lacking the drive to devote too much thought to his role. Perhaps he is just as quick to flee from his passions as he is to run from them?
I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead of reading, thank you for the wonderful analysis and discussion on Chapter 1!
I am loving this idea of “participation.” Do you actually want to take part in your society, or are you just there to “look the part.” One seems a bit safer than the other, if tinged with a kind of removed cowardice.
Your reading of Newland as matching the tone of apathy is totally brilliant. I love that. And your question about how he’ll flee from his passions will be answered…!
Well, this all looks very exciting! As an Englishman, I’ve never really investigated the NY c19 social scene, so am more than ready to read on….
Many thanks
Welcome, welcome! You're in for a treat with Wharton's depiction of this particular scene.
Thanks for being here!
Hi Haley, I'm excited to join this read-along and looking forward to all the insights and discussions to come. Thank you for your expertise!
This opening scene reminds me of the painting 'In the Loge' (1878) by Mary Cassatt (https://collections.mfa.org/objects/31365), except the reader seems to be in the position of the peering man in the background. I feel like one of the group of men gathered with Newland Archer, especially given the arch tone of the narrative voice, which I feel would suit someone gossiping while holding a pair of opera glasses. All the women are at a distance, being observed.
At the same time, what struck me most about the writing was the denseness and specificity of detail that feels quite claustrophobic: the different types of carriages, the 'Gothic library with glazed black-walnut bookcases and finial topped chairs', the 'two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel', the meticulous description of what the women are wearing (contrasted with the men who all wear white waistcoats and buttonhole flowers), the catalogue of family names and relationships. It sets up a world of complex and fussy social codes with a lot of 'things', that would be very effective at excluding outsiders.
So already in my experience of reading there's a sense of distance and proximity - a little like Newland's aloof yet outwardly conforming air.
I love your description of the narrative voice as "someone gossiping while holding a pair of opera glasses".
Hi Maryann!! Great to see you back again for Wharton Round 2. I love this description, too!
That painting is *perfect!* Yes! I really love your reading of the reader being positioned as a "peering" attendee in another opera box -- and your attention to how the women are positioned in this space, as well. It's a fantastic reading of the dynamics taking place in the space! Even Christine Nilsson is observed, at a distance, up on the stage.
And you've completely nailed the tone here -- I'm loving that word, "fussy." The insistence on all these exhausting particularities and then that man, Newland, both at the center (in terms of being the character we're most invited to "get to know") and de-centered (as he has his magical evening of fantasy and staring at May disrupted by others).
Excellent. Thank you so much for reading along and sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for your response! I'm so looking forward to how this choreography of gaze and position will develop as we get to know the characters.
Okay now I'm already convinced that you must write an essay called "the choreography of gaze in The Age of Innocence." damn that's good!
I'll start making notes :)
Wharton's descriptions always seem to make me feel that I'm right in the thick of things, not watching as a film, but actually present. I don't know if you referencing the movie has influenced me, but while reading I was thinking that the blueprints for set and costume design were laid out perfectly. Your diagram shows that the direction has already been parsed as well. She's all but set the camera angles. So many themes from House of Mirth continue here: the stifling nature of societal convention; the fear and fascination of the outsider with new money; the centrality of mergers by marriage to the maintenance of this society; and of course the underestimation and repression of women's intellectual lives. Because we've already spent time in Newland Archer's head, this time it seems we'll get to see things from the male perspective. I'm hoping and expecting his arrogance will be challenged since this was one of the lines I highlighted: "This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded: such as the duty of using two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair, and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole." Does that ever seem like a description of someone primed to have his world rocked.
Maryann, I'm so glad you're here -- you always nail it with your comments! Yes! Wharton's way of writing feels particularly cinematic here, as it did in Grand Central Station at the outset of Mirth. I feel she's one of those authors who deeply understood the art of looking and noticing -- maybe that's what makes her prose so immersive. I'd love to see what you do with this theme, of filmic prose or immersive scene-setting, should you trace it.
And that's a great bit of foreshadowing, isn't it? What Newland takes for the "natural" is so obviously highly socially constructed...and you're so right that it's a perfect description for somebody who is about to "have his world rocked." That made me laugh out loud. No spoilers here...but that's exactly what this book is about!
'She's all but set the camera angles.' Love that!
My favorite sentence: “It was one of the great livery-stableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.”
This led to Wharton describing the transportation choices of either “Private broughams” or “the humbler but more convenient ‘Brown Coupe’.”
This is already SO much fun!
Yes! Nice, Patrick (so fun to see you here from bookstagram!). Nobody wants to stand outside in the cold, looking like they don't have the cash for a warm ride home!
So happy you're having fun already! I am beyond giddy!
Very happy to be here & I'm already knee deep in chapter 2!
What a dazzling first chapter, eh? I too was immediately drawn to the theme of life imitating art, to the outward performance and the internal musings of sir dilettante. Newland Archer is completely unaware that the reader is observing his observations as he observes others. It's voyeuristic in nature, someone's constantly watching, welcome to Old New York where society permeates the private world. It's as if Wharton is being naughty, sharing intimate details with the reader. But wait, there's more. A mystery woman arrives. Well now we're all at the edge of our seats, this is theatre, darling. End scene.
“This is theatre, darling!” Exactly yes this!
"...someone's constantly watching" has so much resonance with social media culture. This is going to be interesting.
What struck me was how much hasn't changed -- there's just so much timelessness in her writing. Society's performances have merely shifted from Wharton's opera boxes to today's social media sites/apps.
Loooove this observation, Shambhavi! That social voyeurism is still very much happening, now it just happens mostly online.
Hi Haley
First many thanks for doing this close read of The Age of Innocence.
I read your posts on sentence level reading and close paragraph reading and they were great. Thanks so much for sharing a method to really explore and open up a text .
What I noticed on this closer reading is that Wharton’s choice of Opera is not random but feeds into the novel as a whole. Archer steps into the club box at the opening of the garden scene of Faust when everything is perfect. At that moment Archer’s own life is perfect, secure in his own social standing, surrounded by his own peers, about to be engaged to a member of one of the most wealthy New York families ( they own their own box!). As the scene unfolds what’s happening on stage almost appears to be happening off stage. The text plays with the idea of performance and deceit, artifice and duplicity, the knowing and at the same time not knowing, or at least not wanting to know. Is someone going to sell his soul to the devil and who or what is the devil in old New York?
We arrive into the novel right on the cusp of social change for the city. There is a new elite gaining more power and influence. Archer’s own personal life is also about to change. He clings to the old ways yet he cannot help but notice the fault lines in his own thinking.
The society at large holds contradictory views and this is also evident in the specific character of Newland Archer. His thoughts about May are paradoxical - he wants her to be pure, innocent and ignorant of the world and yet he also longs for her to be more aware of her own sexuality and his desires, to be able hold her own amongst her peers but not outshine them. Double standards are everywhere beneath the surface. We see May through his eyes. He projects his own ideas about her onto the reader yet Wharton hints in the text that May is not so ignorant or even as innocent as Archer assumes. There is no hard evidence that what Archer believes of May is true.
His flaw is that he refuses to analyse his thoughts on any deep level, to strike out for himself, ‘to probe the bottom of his vanity.’ and instead he chooses to take the easier option of falling into line, to not engage in ‘bad form’ to follow the herd. Is this cowardice on his part?
There is no mention of Archer’s father. Where is he? Is he dead or has he left the family?
Hi Anna Maria! Amazing observations here -- wow! I love it. I'm so glad you're here for the read-a-long!
I feel like what you're picking up on, so early in the novel, is fantastic! You're noticing the tension between the micro and the macro, or the subject and the system that created him. I'm thinking about how the novel says that all the men focus their opera glasses on the "women who were the product of the system." As if the men wearing the glasses aren't just as shaped by that system as well! Just like you said: "Double standards are everywhere" in this chapter.
I also love that you've pointed out "there is not hard evidence that what Archer believes of May is true." That is so good. We have such a clear sense, from the start, that Archer is not our narrator and is NOT omniscient...does he think he is?
Your last two questions -- is this cowardice? and where is Archer's dad? Excellent questions to keep in mind as we continue reading!
I'm plunging into Wharton having read nothing by or about her beforehand. The first thing that captured my attention is the numbers: a story about the 1870s, published in 1920. Having just lived through a turn of the century ourselves, we can understand the need to look back on our past, our younger years, see where we started and how we've changed after so many cultural, societal and technological revolutions. Of course I could be wrong, I'm still out of my depth here, for now I'm sensing a mixture of nostalgia and critical exploration of the past.
Okay, I *love this* for you. I am even a little jealous: reading this novel knowing nothing about it or about Wharton is sure to be an amazing experience.
And you're pointing us to a fantastic theme in this novel already: the nostalgia! The desire to look back and feel that longing...but also to be critical of that past. Keep watching that theme. There's so much more to unravel there!
Joining this thread to say how excited I am to be reading along with you all and thank you to Haley for such a fantastic in-depth analysis that strikes the perfect balance.
Ellie, I love this suggestion about comparing the setting with our own in terms of (for me) looking back to the 1970s from the lofty vantage point of 2024. I shall definitely keep this perspective in mind as I read on.
Hi Grace, welcome!! I'm so glad you're here!
Thank you, Haley. This post was just fantastic to read and consider—so in depth and generous; looking forward to this group/ virtual book club/ close reading experience etc. 🤓
Thank you for being here and reading along, Veronica! Cheers!
Jordan pulled this sentence from the first chapter: “It was one of the great livery-stableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.” I laughed out loud because it reminded me of performances where folks leave before the encore so that they can get their car out of the parking garage quickly. By doing this they break the spell of the event and often miss something important/special/thrilling. So it’s not a new phenomenon…
I agree completely with Maryann: “Wharton's descriptions always seem to make me feel that I'm right in the thick of things, not watching as a film, but actually present.” This was especially true of this chapter – in my head I created a diagram like yours, glancing from one box to another, from the stage to the audience, from person to person as they came into focus.
I looked up information about Christine Nilsson and this performance of Faust at the “shabby” Academy actually happened. I was also thrilled to discover that she was likely the model for Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera!
I didn’t much care for Lily Bart at the beginning of The House of Mirth and I have the same feeling for Newland Archer – mold May Welland indeed. We shall see.
Lawrence Lefferts (I think he would enjoy the Met Gala) and Sillerton Jackson are key to giving us an insight into the societal norms/expectations of the day and provide the important line that leads into Chapter 2. A cliffhanger for sure!
This is going to be fun.
BTW, I diagrammed the first sentence the same way you did – and really enjoyed the exercise.
Hi Barbara! So glad you’re here for more Wharton! I love what you’re noticing here — and especially love this insight that Lawrence Lefferts would love the Met Gala! He totally would. He seems like a kind of E! Hollywood commentator or the kind of cultural commmentor like Ward McCallister (who helped Caroline Astor keep her List of 400).
And yes!! Christine inspired Christine! That’s such a fun historical tidbit. The Phantom novel was published in 1909, so it’s fun to think Nilsson had enough of a cultural impact to arrive in such keystone pieces of the literature about that time!
Hello Haley-
First, thank you for the wonderful summary and deep analysis of Chapter 1. I read the chapter and then your write up. Boy, did I miss a lot. I went back and read the chapter a second time. That is what I love about close reading & having someone like you guide us on this journey. Your note outline was beneficial in honing in my first impressions. The stage sketch was really helpful too. It zoomed in on Wharton's descriptions such as: eyes returned, glance flitting back, following Leffert's glance, etc.
My first impression of Newland Archer, was a bit of an eye-roll- he seems so pompous and came across as comical with his internal ideologies. Time will tell how his character develops. First impressions are everything though & I already feel sorry for Miss May.
The last line in this chapter had me perplexed. I wrote your quote in the margins, "What have they tried on?" Initially, I thought it meant the ladies wouldn't have tried on that dress, but now I'm not so sure." Do you think this sentence was written ambiguous or was it perhaps the dialogue one used in the 1870s?
Hi Melissa!
So happy you’re here and I am so glad the note outline was helpful for you!
Your question about the final line is a great one! You’re picking up on the right tensions there: the line is playing a bit as a pun and an indictment of the Mingott choice to have this woman in their company (you’ll find out why soon). But keep pushing to think through the line and its many layered implications — there’s a lot to closely read there and I would love to see what you come up with as you think more on the line! (And how the line repeats in next week’s reading..!!)
Thank you for this excellent introduction Haley! My favourite part of ch 1 was the description of Sillerton Jackson. 'He knew all the ramifications of New York's cousinships...' Haha. And he carries a 'forest of family trees' in his head, along with 'a register of most of the scandals and mysteries that had smouldered under the unruffled surface of New York society within the last fifty years.' So so good.
You're welcome!! (I'm very excited to read Dalloway with you next month, btw!)
I love the attention you've paid to Jackson. He's such a fantastic character, especially in a chapter that's all about being seen and observing others. He's like a giant floating eyeball: taking it all in, remembering everything, recording it all.
Hi Haley, Reading so closely makes my head spin. There are so much happening. I have not read through your summary, and want to form my own first. Here‘s my main impression:
There are many pairs of „opposites“, or what would you call them, tensions? The old (the world of fashion/conservatives) vs. the new (the ‚new people‘, new opera house); the here (Academy of Music/Manhattan) vs. the there („above the Forties“); going to the operas but only for gossip („the boxes always stopped talking during the Daisy song“); Mr. Jackson‘s „reputation of discretion“ and his need of „finding out what he wanted to know“.
All these lead me to the recurring theme that is the hypocrisy of this society, this upper crust of late 1870’s New York. It is summed up nicely by the ideal wife that Newland Archer wishes for: „attracting masculine homage while playfully discouraging it,“ and „as worldly-wise and as eagerly to please“, which leads to a desire for the summarily ultimate pair of opposite: fire and ice. Or maybe it’s not hypocrisy, rather, not knowing what one wants?
On the other hand, we may say all societies are hypocritical to some degree. We champion one ideal but do something else. Perhaps it’s not fair of me to single out New York in the 1870s.
The other motif are flowers, the innocent daisies and lilies-of-the-valley vs. the less so roses, pansies, and gardenias, which forms another pair of contrast. Although I‘m not sure how this will play out, I have a feeling this will have a main role in the novel. In fact, the cover of my Vintage edition of the book is a painting of two yellow roses in a vast blackness.
My favourite sentence in this chapter: „… an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.“ I can’t say why. It’s just funny and so witty. It kind of reinforces the image of a (to borrow a new word I learned from Wharton) dilettante audience, who are there but not really there, so it really doesn’t matter what is sung or performed on stage.
Hi Lillian! So lovely to have you back for more Wharton and I love that you commented before reading the chapter guide — we have so many overlaps in our readings! I really like how you’ve traced Newland’s desires as being not just the 1870s in New York but perhaps as being quite human, quite recognizable. I love your question and it prompts a great one to set up your reading: Does Newland know what he wants?
Also: so excited to see how you continue to closely read flowers in the novel..!!
Hi Lillian - thanks for highlighting the flower motif. You’re right, flowers and plants are everywhere!
Now that I’ve read your summary and analysis, I really like how you diagrammed the back and forth charged glances on and off stage!
I hope the last sentence will be explained in the next chapter of what exactly is being tried on. Related to this is a question of whether the mysterious woman has timed her arrival, making sure the fashionably late fashionable world has all arrived. If so then she must really know how to play this game.
As said, I can’t believe how much is packed in these few pages. Looking back I don’t know how much I missed in all the books I’ve read.
This is my first Wharton (I think?) and I'm so intrigued by the story already. I read the first chapter and annotated a little, then read your analysis and went back and re-read it twice more. There's so much I missed the first time through, so I'm grateful for this readalong that will enable me to take the story really slowly and notice more in it.
Hi Kate -- Amazing! That's the goal: to read, notice things, read again, and keep noticing. I am so glad you're enjoying the process so far!