The Beginning

It has been almost four days since I wrote anything and am dangerously close to falling out of habit once again. I must admit, I was afraid to write something on my blog for the past few days because I lacked inspiration and I was also afraid of sounding repetitive and boring as I ran out of words to pen down. With some motivation from my beloved husband I am here again, trying to string words together. 

I have finally finished reading Edith Wharton's 'Age of Innocence'. I have tried my best to resist the temptation of going through any kind of notes on the book that are all over the Internet because I didn't want it to colour my judgement of the book. So here are my thoughts on the book. When I first started reading the book I was quite excited to read it, however it was a bit difficult to get through in between especially after part one of the book. The first scene in the opera, when Ellen walks in with her 'Josephine look' the whole of New York Society is scandalized at her 'inappropriateness' and Archer's reaction to her presence, was a clear indication of the passion that is going to brew betwixt the two of them and somehow it was obvious to me that things would only go downhill for them and there is no happy ending for them in any of the pages to come. But Edith Wharton teases us every now and then about their probable intimacy, makes us hope and want them to be together. The fact that she was able to elicit this kind of response in me despite having felt that they hardly spent any time together to have actually fallen in love just goes to show how much a marvellous story teller Edith is. The constant will they wont they kept me on the hook despite knowing that it is not going to materialize. And I must admit I was quite sad when Archer gets married to May, I kept hoping that there would be at least one glance of Ellen on that day, much like Newland Archer and we were both left disappointed. I waited impatiently to catch her again but Ellen evaded the pages for a while, you know she is there somewhere, still in love with Archer yet getting on with her life, but I honestly waited for her to reappear on the pages again. Finally when we see Grandma Mingot calling out for her, I finally smiled, and was filled with the excitement of what was going to come. But until then, I was quite angry and irritated that we were filled with the details of Archer's wedded life, and Ellen was nowhere to be seen. The scene where she waits by the shore waiting for Archer to come up to her and talk to her, and Archer waiting for her to turn around, was one of the most heartbreaking, more like frustrating scene and so was the ending of the book. It left me angry, and sad vexed. 

Firstly I think Newland Archer is one of the characters I have actually come to despise, despise probably is too strong a word, dislike perhaps is a more suitable word to reflect my feelings about him. I felt like he was this person who was pretty much full of himself, he thought he was better than the rest of his peers but truth being he was just like any of them. All the supposedly revolutionary things he says are thing he just syas but doesn't quite act upon. So I think Edith's description of him being a 'dilettante' was quote true. He likes the idea of things being a certain way but if he were to inculcate those ideas in his real life or turn them to reality he would be the first to shy away from actually acting on them. He likes Ellen's free spiritedness, but isn't happy with her friendship with Julius Beaufort. He is upset about it that he even lets his animosity towards Beaufort come in between the chance he and Ellen probably would have had. When their meeting is interrupted by Beaufort, he ends up going to see May and asks her to set a date for their wedding rather than meet Ellen who sends him a note to come see her. To a large extent he was a pretty selfish guy who truly cared only about himself. He didn't quite care about Ellen or even May for that matter. i Understand why Ellen may have been the way she was because it was difficult for her to act on her feelings for Archer, as she didn't want to wrong her cousin. On learning that May is pregnant she walks away from the whole thing. I know the whole thing of Newland Archer was to choose between Duty and love, and that he has made some supreme sacrifice of staying back with May. I don't think it was a sacrifice to begin with, archer was no rebel, he was a conformist who looked down on his peers for having chosen the path of compliance, a hypocrite even I suppose. Perhaps I am judging him too harshly I don't know but I could't take him beyond a point something about him was quite off putting and I felt Ellen deserved better than Archer and to some extent so did May. 

The social conventions and norms, the rules, they were highly oppressive in nature particularly for women. By following them and ensuring that everyone fell in line not only ensured one misery but the misery of all those in their social circles. You feel suffocated just by reading about those things. I don't know if the same story was to be written by a man the things that were brought to light would be done in a similarly efficient manner. 

Over all it was a good read, it did take me back in time, reading it, and I was truly fascinated by all the details that have been included in the storyline about the kind of lavish lives they lived back then. What started as an exciting journey to the last century ended up in a heartbreak I must add, I have always been someone who has held a certain fascination about how things were in the past, as much as I like looking back, I am happy with a lot of things that are different now, even though I see the need for so much to change, maybe a hundred years later someone would be writing on a new kind of device unknown and unimaginable to us about our times and how things have changed. I want to hold on to that hope that things will change for the better especially for women.