The Age of Innocence | Analysis

The Age of Innocence | Analysis The Age of Innocence is the novel of Edith Whartons maturity in which she contemplates the New York of her youth, a society now extinct and even then under threat. She was born in 1862 into the exclusive, entrenched and apparently immutable world of wealthy New York families. It was a world of structured leisure, in which attendance at balls and dinners passed for occupation, in which the women devoted themselves to dress and to the maintenance of family and system and the men kept a watchful eye on the financial underpinning that made the whole process possible. It was a complacent and philistine world, but one with inflexible standards. These standards and any offences against it lies at the heart of The Age of Innocence; the sexual passion between Newland Archer, a married man, and Ellen Olenski, nonconformist and separated from her husband, threatens conventional mores and family security; the financial irregularities of Julius Beaufort require that he and his wife be ejected fro m society before they corrupt its most cherished integrities. The form of the novel allows its author to examine, with the wisdom of hindsight, a world which was in the process of breaking up when she was a girl, and which she herself rejected in any case. She wrote with the enclyclopedic knowledge of an insider with the accuracy and selective power of a fine novelist and the detachment of a highly intelligent social and historical observer. From the opening pages of the Age of Innocence, when Newland Archer attends the opera at the Academy of music in New York, we see through his eyes the stage and the cast of the book. Her selection of points of view: of the two central figures, Newland and Ellen Olenski, with whom he falls fatally in love, only Newland is allowed a voice; Ellen is always seen through his eyes and those of others, and is thus given a detachment which makes her both slightly mysterious and strengthens her role as the novels catalyst. Newland, on the other hand, by being given absolute definition of thought and action, is laid out for inspection and judgement; he has the vulnerability of exposure, while Ellen is left with privacy and silence. One is ultimately trapped by custom and circumstance, and the other a free spirit, harbinger of the future. As the novel begins, Newland is about to announce his engagement to May Welland, a conventional alliance with a beautiful girl from a suitable family. He loves her, but sees her, even at this early stage, with a clarity that is prescient: when he had gone the brief round of her he returned discouraged by the thought that all this frankness and innocence were only an artificial product. May, indeed, can be seen as embodying in her personality all the rigidity and implacable self-righteousness of the society itself A KIND OF INNOCENCE, but a dangerous and eventually self-destructive innocence. The novel falls naturally into two halves, before and after the marriage, and it is in the second half that we see the characters of the book Newland and May mature and conflict. In the first part of the book, Newland is allowed to appear as somewhat innocent himself, more sophisticated of course than his financà ©e because he is a man and has been permitted both emotional experiences (he has had a brief affair with a married woman) and an intellectual range not available at the time to a young woman, but nevertheless conditioned and relatively unquestioning. He views the New York of his birth and upbringing with a degree of affectionate impatience. He bows to the dictates of convention silver-backed brushed with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair never appearing in society without a flower in his buttonhole and accepts a world in which people move in an atmosphere of faint implications and pale delicacies. But at the same time, he is capable of criticism and rebellion, and it is in the second half of the novel that we see this capacity fanned into active life by his feelings for Ellen Olenski and his assessment and understanding of her situation and what is that is being done to her by the tribe. Newlands TRAGEDY is that in the last resort he is unable to obey his own instincts: nurture triumphs over nature. May is a more interesting character than she immediately appears; towards the end of the novel she appears to be anything but innocent. Ellen Olenski is her cousin, returned from Europe to the family fold after the collapse of a disasterous marriage to a philandering Polish count. May, initially, has been graciously kind to her and has encouraged Newlands friendly support and advice over Ellens complex and precarious situation: should she divorce her husband? But in the months after the marriage the passion between Newland and Ellen has become apparent to May (even though they dont seem to meet very much in the novel). We never know quite how but must assume that May is more astute and observant than she has appeared. With stealthy adroitness, she moves to save her marriage and avert the threat to social tranquility the outsider cannot be allowed to strike at the heart of all that is sacrosanct and must be ejected. The family tacitly close ranks around May, and Ellen is put under subtle pressure to return to Europe. In the final scenes, Newland realizes what is happening but he is mute and helpless because there is nothing he can do about it because to protest would be to betray himself and Ellen, who is the challenge and the threat to the status quo. She fascinates the men and repels the women by her cosmopolitanism, her taste for literature and art, her cooly amused view (almost flippant attitude) of the world of her childhood: Im sure Im dead and buried, and this dear old place is heaven, she says to Newland at their first meeting, and from that moment he is doomed. From the start, it appears she has decided to have him, judging by her offhand and unconventional assumption that he will visit her. The whole situation is very ambiguous because we as the reader are not privy to her thoughts and true intentions. Ellens family stands behind her at first and as a last resort they solicit the help of the almost fossilized and aristocratic van der Leydens, to ensure her acceptance. But Ellen is fatally tainted: although Ellen is the one who is the innocent party in her failed marriage (her husband, the Count had eyes with a lot of lashes [to lash = discard his eyes roamed] and when he wasnt chasing the women he was collecting china [china plate = mates] and paying any price for both [meaning he was a philanderer with both women and men and paid them handsomely as well], she is polluted there are even unconfirmed rumors that she has consoled herself. The double standards on which that society functioned becomes most apparent here: a woman must be blameless but a blind eye is turned on male sexual indulgence. Initial sympathy eventually turns to suspicion and then to rejection as it is realized that she is not going to conform that she is no longer one of them due to her freedom of mind and of spirit that is unacceptable in a woman. Ellen emerges as the victor, escaping to the freedom of a more expansive and imaginative society. The price she pays is her relationship with Newland Archer. Newland, Ellen and May are products of their time; whatever their instincts and their inclinations, they are obliged to obey its dictation. The author singles our Sillerton Jackson and Lawrence Lefferts, authorities respectively on family and on form. The unexpected ending is neither tragic nor happy. Archer has no hinders towards being with Ellen now, but chooses to keep her as a memory like a relic in a small dim chapel. She is now significantly older and perhaps does not want to be confronted with reality. She is simply a regret of his youth. Wharton frustrates the reader with this ending, and even with Archers and Ellens frustrated love. One of the central themes in The Age of Innocence is the struggle the individual has with his/her own desires and the dictates of the moral codes and manners of the group of which one belongs. Several times, both Archer and Ellen are expected to sacrifice their own desires for what the family and societal desires and expectations. A profound sense of irony is experienced in reading The Age of Innocence. The hypocrisy demonstrated by so many characters in the book, not least by the character of society, leads one to believe that Wharton must have had a facetious undertone when giving the title of the book. Also, Whartons style, with so many details that have meaning, such as the raised eyebrow or a meaningful glance, communicates that many details have crucial significance, which came well to pass in the filming of the novel as well. The problems with making a film from an existing novel are many; films can use visual images to their advantage, whereas un-illustrated books cannot. The verbal nuances in the text get lost when being translated to film. A world of meaning in a glance, carefully analyzed by Wharton in the text, gets lost in its translation to film. Details of fashion in the text go unnoticed by modern readers. Scorsese dealt with this issue by having a voice-over narrator, telling us the details about things that were necessary to comprehend the story and the various scenes in it. Summary of articles: I read the introduction to the book and I think I saw it as a background to the story but did not summarize the introduction itself. I used the information, at the back of my mind, while reading the book and taking notes. Perhaps it would have been better not to read the introduction first, but only after reading the novel itself. Pamela Knights Forms of Disembodiment: The Social Subject in the Age of Innocence There were many different subjects dealt with in this article, but the part of it which most appealed to me (and which I believe I have use for in other areas of study) was the overall psychological and anthropological analysis of the novel. The quote that sums it up: Any observation about an individual character about his or her consciousness, emotions, body, history, or language also entangles us in the collective experience of the group, expressed in the welter of trifles, the matrix of social knowledge, within and out of which Whartons subjects are composed where and how that entanglement extends is one of the novels questions. Nancy Bentley Hunting for the Real: Wharton and the Science of Manners The quote that sums this article is: The gap between reputation and reality here is provocative, for it hints at the complexity of Whartons relation to her cultural context and to the changing concept of culture itself, the subject at the heart of her fiction. And the historical turn to primitivism. This article is an analysis of Whartons style and the authors relationship to her work and her use of symbolism. Lawrence S. Friedman: The Cinema of Martin Scorsese This article discusses the irony in the novel and Scorseses interpretation of Wharton in two scenes and focuses on the frustration of unconsummated desire. Brigitte Peucker Scorseses Age of Innocence: Adaptation and Intermediality This article deals with film understood as a medium in which different representational systems specifically those of painting and writing both collide and replace one another, but are always supplemental to each other . This makes film a medium congenial to the artistic concerns of Wharton (who was not particularly positive to film), because her work is very visual and multi-layered both imaginistic and verbal. The adaptation of this work was particularly challenging because of the aspect of being multi-layered and it was difficult to translate one medium to another.

Letter and memo

Dr. Leopold Bilgewaters, Vice-President Frivolous Affairs Highline Community College [Address Line 1 of Highline Community College here] [Address Line 2 of Highline Community College here] Sir: I am writing to you with a suggestion and is hoping for a nice feedback. I am currently enrolled in a class, Writ 143, the course name of which is Introduction to Technical Writing. Indeed, the lessons that we are taught here are essential to my profession and are a must in the career path I want to take. In fact, it is of regular use and the principles we receive from the classes are very much in overlap with application of the same. The need to apply such writing principles is direct that a lack of information on such would be of great effect to a professional. I see the said course as a very important course that should be taken by every student who graduates and passes on the hands of Highline Community College. The subject matter of technical writing is a tool that enhances the skills that one acquires in the said institutions. It is a tool that can be used from the very moment of job application to everyday tasks that would be done in the workplace. It is used in communication in the workplace where very professional should be understood in a clear manner so as to avoid misunderstandings. In our college, the opportunity of being trained under the great minds and hands of those who are experts in the field of technical writing is blocked by a prerequisite it has, which is Writing 101 or Principles of Writing. When one steps in a college such as ours, it is understood that one has the necessary skills in writing, which is covered in Principles of Writing. This course is intended as a refresher course and should not be made mandatory to everyone before taking the subject of Technical Writing. Unlike Writing 101, which has been given attention in lower levels of academic inquiry, Writing 143 is not included in the curriculums of previous school levels and would be a must in our college without any barriers to such. It would be best to simply administer a test that would determine who would have to go through Writing 101 before Writing 143 and those who would not have to take such. Sincerely, [Complete Name here] To: [Name of manager here], Manager From: [Full name here], Lead Insurance Specialist Subject: Request for Reimbursement Date: [Please indicate name here] This has reference to the course which I am taking now at Highline Community College, which is Writing 143. The complete course name of which is Introduction to Technical Writing. I would like to earnestly request for a reimbursement for the money well spent for the enrollment of this course. The Course The said course is completed online that provides me the chance to gain knowledge and relevant skills while being able to perform the necessary tasks in our company. It has given me the chance to shoot two birds with one stone and has even served as a tool that I can use for everyday communication inside the workplace. The course instills in the students the necessary communication skills that should be used for conveying messages that contain technical information inside the workplace in both vertical and horizontal lines. Likewise, the students are taught how to become aware of the special needs of the different audience groups. This would help in properly identifying the requirements of writing correspondence that can be easily understood by the audience to who it is intended for. The layout of such correspondence would also have to be considered by the students and the stringent requirements for such are taken into account. A holistic approach is placed on instructing the students to gain proficiency in technical writing. Importance to Everyday Work In my current position as a Lead Insurance Specialist, the task involving technical writing could not be avoided. I have to deal with writing letters, electronic mails, and memorandums that has placed me in a position that requires much knowledge in technical writing. The subject matter could not be acquired in previous academic levels. Fortunately, the chance was given to me to take the necessary classes and be given the chance to acquire the skills to create proper written communication. The knowledge of creating a good communication with the aide of the said course, Writing 143 or Intro to Technical Writing is indispensible to this kind of work as we all know that communication between the employees and with the clients is essential. More likely than not, unclear lines of communication leads to negative effects on the businesses and does not create a good picture for those who are concerned. On the other hand, when communication is clearly written, it would create an atmosphere of professionalism and would give both the audience and the writer the chance to clearly understand and be understood. Earnest Request It is with much hope that I would like to request for a reimbursement of the amount spent amounting to [please place amount here]. This is the cost of enrolling in the said class [please add some more particulars for the cost as necessary]. Please be assured that the knowledge I gain in this class will be used for the betterment of our organization. If, in any case, the total amount can not be shouldered by the organization, I will accept any amount that would keep both of us in an advantageous position. I would be very thankful of any amount that will be forwarded to me for this course that I am taking. Please advise me on the next steps that will be taken and I would appreciate any information and feedback that you will provide me regar Related essay: â€Å"Co Curricular Activities Letter†

Environmental protection Essay

Our earth is our home, so if we want to protect our home we should protect our environment from harmful effects of human activity. Some of these activities cause pollution. Pollution now is a very important problem. Some of these problem are : the ozone holes, global warming ( or green-house effect), acid rain †¦ The ozone layer is a layer of gases which stop harmful radiation from the sun protecting the earth. Recent research shows that there is a hole in part of the ozone layer which is caused by smoke from factories, car exhaust fumes, aerosol cans ’cause they contain CFC. Global warming is an increase in world temperature caused by an increase in carbon dioxide. Acid rain is rain that contains dangerous chemicals, this is caused by smoke from factories. Another problem is poisons in food. Farmer soften spray chemicals in crops to safe them from pests. These chemicals are called pesticides. Scientists have found that pesticides often end up in our food and they can cause health problems – especially for kids. The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison : industrial, chemical, nuclear waste. Every ten minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect dies out for ever. And if nothing is done our earth will die in about 30 years from now. So what can we do to protect our environment ? I think that we should recycle our used things, we should plant more trees, we should not waste resources but try save them, we also must make smoke from factories and car’s fumes more clean, we must not dump industrial waste to seas and rivers †¦Now people are beginning to realize that environmental problems are not somebody else’s. They make different organization, whose aim is conservation. For example † GREEN PEACE † , † FRIEND OF THE EARTH † and others. Everyday millions people from all over the world do everything to protect our envir onment , and they need for our help. I think we ought to help them , just to make our future better.

Modernist Painting By Clement Greenberg - 1325 Words

In his essay, â€Å"Modernist Painting† (1960), Clement Greenberg seeks to lay principles for evaluating the progression of art to modern painting. Greenberg makes a lot of evaluations and assessments about modern paintings that are credible and can be held to a high standard. Despite his best efforts, some of his assertions are shrouded in generalizations and lack the necessary premises to be established as entirely objective and affirmative. Greenberg claims that the Old Masters created space one could imagine walking into and experience, but modern painters, on the other hand, create space only accessible to the visual senses, eye. His observations regarding these â€Å"Old Masters† is undeniable for the most part, but his assertions on modern paintings brings up a lot of controversy. To question Greenberg, one must first understand how the representation of depth of space evolved over time. The full range of this evolution cannot be mapped in this essay, thus only relevant and specific ones will be discussed. Dating back to the 16th century, the Renaissance painters saw a heightening of perspective painting. By imitating how distant and close objects appear to the eye, the optical illusion of space is created by a geometric representation of unfolding space. Rafael’s Marriage of the Virgin, 1504 (fig.1) is a prominent paragon to reflect on regarding this technique. With defined lines and patterns leading to the doorway of the background building, Rafael gives the audience a senseShow MoreRelatedClement Greenberg Modernist Painting1062 Words   |  5 PagesClement Greenberg, â€Å"Modernist Painting† In his text entitled â€Å"Modernist Painting†, Greenberg focuses on the development of painting between the 14th and 19th century and emphasizes on what distinguishes Modernist painting from previous forms of painting, particularly those of the Old Masters. Greenberg begins by relating Modernist art to Kantian philosophy claiming that, the same way Kant used reason in order to examine the limits of reason, Modernist art is when art became self critical becauseRead MoreImpressionism as a Avant-garde Movement970 Words   |  4 Pagesaesthetic and ideological underpinnings of the Modernist artwork, Impression, Sunrise of Claude Monet. The artwork and Impressionism is considered to be a visual articulation of the avant-garde and the latter statement is explained. References to the writings of Charles Harrison, Clement Greenberg and Wilhelm Worringer is used to theorise the aesthetics of modernity. â€Æ' 2. IMPRESSIONISM AS MODERN ART Modernism is the heartbeat of culture, or as Clement Greenberg (1992:754) states, modernism involves ofRead MoreAn Analysis Of Jackson Pollock : Abstract Expressionism718 Words   |  3 Pagesown way of painting. These techniques were introduced by influences from the Modernist time where there was a vast social change that challenged traditional themes and techniques in artmaking. Abstract Expressionism developed in 1940’s. It was the first movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the Western Art World. As an abstract Expressionist, Pollock used different layers of diluted, running paint as well as different tools to make his painting look likeRead MoreThe Issues Of Wholeness And The Spectator And Means Versus Ends1590 Words   |  7 Pagesand the viewer, from external factors such as time and space. Judd criticises part by part painting for the way in which the composition is contained by, but otherwise ignores the shape of the ca nvas. For him, this meant that the painting did not create an overall sense of unity because the pictorial parts were stressed rather than the work as a whole. Judd claims that consistency between the painting and the frame enabled establishment of the frame as an explicit form, overall making it strongerRead MoreAnalysis Of Blue Poles 1498 Words   |  6 Pagescultural and physical boundaries. Abstract and Modernist artists, Pollock and Kandinsky both show defiance of traditional methodologies and ideologies through their unconventional conceptual and material practices. Jackson Pollock- ‘Blue Poles’- 1952 One of the most influential art works he has created, Pollock’s 1952 work ‘Blue Poles’, is essential is displaying the provocative and experimental style of his distinctive avant garde paintings. Blue Poles is a visionary work of his, intensifyingRead More Modernism vs Postmodernism Essay2441 Words   |  10 Pagespure, and in its purify find the guarantee of its standards of quality as well as of its independence. Purity meant self-definition, and the enterprise of self-criticism in the arts became one of self-definition, with a vengeance. (Greenberg, Modernist Painting, Art in Theory, p.755) Greenbergs aesthetics are the terminal point of [an] historical trajectory. There is another history of art, however, a history of representations ... for me, and some other erstwhile conceptualists, conceptualRead MoreThe Conceptual Connection Between Art And Aesthetics2378 Words   |  10 Pagesexercises in aesthetics. Above all Clement Greenberg is the critic of taste’ (Kosuth; 854) Is Kosuth’s stance on the negating of aesthetic presence a dig only at ‘Formulism’ or more of a defining attitude to actually attest what ‘art’ is and how it should be utilised to carry an idea and not just decorate in a modernist Greenberg taste? Within this essay I will argue, yes indeed conceptualism stripped the notion of morphological art and the decorative accepting of painting as tradition, however were theRead MoreEssay The Avant-Garde Die First2300 Words   |  10 Pagesmore clearly demonstrate the extreme separation the term â€Å"avant-garde† implies. It is important to reflect on the detachment of art from its former religious manifestations, where the painting was a moving piece of â€Å"symbolic meaning† (Barzun 32). According to Jacques Barzun, a painting connected with the viewer because it reflected some manner of spiritual recognition; it was the attachment to God or spiritual symbolism that satisfied the patron and provoked emotion, not the pieceRead MoreThe Fault in Conceptual Artists Essay1250 Words   |  5 PagesConceptual art is also emerged, developed and influenced from other art movements such as Dada, Pop art and Minimal Art. Mary Anne stated in her article Conceptual Art that Modernism had historically unfolded and artists began to work outside of painting frames...artists moved from morphological questions to questions about the production of meaning and value and what makes a particular object or practice into art. It might not be easy to clearly define Conceptual Art because Conceptual Art couldRead MoreAn Overview of Postmodernism Essay2180 Words   |  9 Pagescharacteristic of postmodernism. There was a preference for a type of work that shifted away from the traditional use of elements and formats and dissolved the barriers between them, bringing into art items that had nothing to do with traditional sculpting or painting materials. In the critical sense, the beginnings of postmodernism are placed in the mid 1970’s when it started being mentioned under this name and used in critical and philosophical discussions . Artists and writers were conscious on their belonging