The examination of “Convention in the Fiction of Edith Wharton” (1983) by Mary Suzanne Schriber, Professor Emerita at Northern Illinois University, presents the influence of convention especially on women's lives, but some mistakes in the text indicate that her article is less well researched. In addition to these books, there are several essays published in journals that are significant for discussing society's influence on Newland Archer. Specifically, the article on Newland Archer's dependence on society by Pamela Knights, who is a Senior Lecturer at Durham University, is relevant for the topic. Ten essays on Wharton's fiction offer a comprehensive overview in the 1995 Cambridge Companion to Edith Wharton edited by Millicent Bell.
Furthermore, Cynthia Griffin Wolff's critical biography A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton from 1977 provides a critical outside perspective on Wharton's life and her works. Nevertheless, this autobiography is significant for drawing parallels between her life and the life of Newland Archer. In her autobiography A Backward Glance from 1934, she reflects on her life, although she omits certain unpleasant stages of her life. Since Wharton's experiences in old New York are closely interwoven with the lives of her characters in The Age of Innocence, an analysis of her past and her associated reflections are crucial for interpreting the novel. In The Age of Innocence, Newland Archer's life is predestinated by the enclosed society of New York City which finds expression in his eventual decision to marry May Welland, separate with Ellen Olenska who transgresses the boundaries of this society, and feeling misplaced as the world familiar to him approaches change. The story of Newland Archer, a young lawyer from a respected upper-class family, who is torn between marrying his betrothed May Welland and thereby following society's expectations and entering into a relationship with her cousin, Ellen Olenska, and with that superordinate his personal happiness, won Edith Wharton a Pulitzer Prize in 1921. Having lived in New York of the Gilded Age, Wharton provides a rich description of the life of the upper class in The Age of Innocence -and contrasts this life to the European society she had encountered during her numerous travels. 1 Edith Wharton's description of the protagonist in her novel The Age of Innocence, published in 1920, unveils the significant influence of the small New York City society the author grew up in. Conformity to the discipline of a small society had become almost his second nature”. “Newland Archer was a quiet and self-controlled young man. The Impact of Old New York Society on Newland ArcherĢ.1 A Seemingly Perfect Couple: Archer's Marriage with MayĢ.2 Society's Boundaries: Ellen Olenska as the “polluting Force”Ģ.3 The “Vanished America”: Wharton's Depiction of Old Newland Archer
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