The Age of Innocence By: Edith Wharton

 The Age of Innocence

By: Edith Wharton

 The Age of Innocence  By Edith Wharton

It's a January night in New York City in the 1870s, and people come to the opera. When young Newland Archer, a lawyer and town resident, admires his future fiancée May Weiland in the dressing room of the Mingotte Opera House, he is appalled by the arrival of May's cousin, Countess Elaine Olinska, who has left her stately but wealthy Polish husband. . To discourage gossip, Newland decided to announce her engagement until May that night at the Beaufort Ball.

All old New York moves and salutes the Countess. When the family later plans dinner to introduce them to company, no one agrees. Immediately, the Mingott family enlisted the old social sages Henry and Louisa van der Luyden to support them in taking Old New York City to a dinner they couldn't refuse. In this way, they present the quaint Countess that New York society finds charming, narrow-minded and rustic compared to Paris. The next day, Newland visited the home of the countess in a bohemian part of town. He finds his living room strange and his friendship with bad financier Julius Beaufort disturbing. But he feels her loneliness and, despite some apprehension, sends her yellow roses.

The Mingots ask Newland's president, Mr. Leiter Blair, to ask Newland to persuade the Countess not to obtain a divorce. When Newland talks to Elaine - a sentimental and eccentric woman unlike the quiet and innocent Mae - he falls in love with her despite his engagement. Fearing temptation, Newland flees to Florida, where May's family is on vacation, and asks May to postpone the wedding date. Surprised, May tells him he could get his freedom if there was "someone else". Influenced by her altruism, Newland returns to New York. When May confesses his love for Elaine, she receives a telegram indicating that they can marry within a month. Newland knows his duty.

The second book, Age of Innocence, begins with May's marriage to Newland under the gaze of New York society. In August, a year later, Newland and Mae settled into a modern, albeit boring, life in New York City, where they live in an affluent part of town and spend the summer with the rest of Newport's wealthy. Eileen moved to Washington, D.C. Drown; She returned to live with her grandmother for a short time, but later left to visit Boston. Still under the influence of his spell, Newland lies to his wife and follows Elaine there. Eileen vows to stay in America only if they don't harm Mae with a secret affair. She returned to Washington. Meanwhile, questionable financial deals catch up with Julius Beaufort, and his wife, Regina, seeks help from Eileen's grandmother. Mrs. Mingot has a stroke and sends Elaine to take care of her. During the two-hour camper ride with Elaine from the station, Newland hinted that the two were having an affair. Elaine refuses, knowing that she will hurt Mae. He suddenly left the car and went home. When he saw May in the library, he realized that he would remain faithfully married to her forever.

Newland unconcernedly meets Eileen the next day at the Metropolitan Museum, where she finally accepts a future affair. Newland, elated but guilty, decides to confess everything to May, but she interrupts him to tell him that Eileen is leaving for Europe and that the Archers will have a farewell dinner for her. Newland is shocked and intends to follow Eileen later. Despite this, he suddenly realizes during dinner that the whole family, including May, thinks he and Elaine are already having an affair; Giving Elaine money to live in Europe is how the family handles the situation. That night, when he and Mae retired, she announced that she thought she was pregnant and told Eileen earlier before she was really sure. But she is now safe and forever ruling Newland's fate.

The years pass. Newland is 57 years old and has two sons: Dallas and Mary. He had recently died of pneumonia and had breastfed a third, healthy child. Newland accompanies Dallas on a business trip to Paris, where Dallas informs Newland that Countess Elaine Olinska has invited them to dinner. Newland had not seen her in 26 years. Dallas opens up about his father May's deathbed confession that Newland sacrificed the only thing he loved out of duty and honor. That evening, Newland encouraged Robert to leave the Countess' apartment without him. In Newland's memory, his love will remain forever young, perfect and unchanging with time.

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