The Age of Innocence Flashcards
(35 cards)
why do ‘they’ (Newland’s New York Society) like the Academy of Music?
“being small and inconvenient, and thus keeping out the ‘new people’ whom New York was beginning to dread and yet be drawn to”
how does Newland feel when he looks at May and what does he have?
‘a thrill of possessorship in which pride in his own masculine initiation was mingled with a tender reverence for her abysmal purity’
Newland refers to the women his ‘club box’ look at as, what?
‘the circle of ladies who were the product of the system’
how does Newland find himself to be different from the rest of the ‘Club box’?
‘in matters intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior’ to the club box
Newland’s description of the ‘club box’ and what they represent
the club box – ‘grouped together they represented ‘New York’, and the habit of masculine solidarity made him accept their doctrine in all the issues called ‘moral’’
what feature is valued by New York society, could possibly indicate what women are valued for as well
‘beauty – a gift which, in the eyes of New York, justified every success, and excused a certain number of failings’
quote relating to the social code of New York, could be related to Eby’s assertion that New York society is like a ‘police state’
‘it was against all the rules of their code that the mother and son should ever allude to what was uppermost in their thoughts’
Newland quote on freedom of women
“Women ought to be free – as free as we are,” he declared, making a discovery of which he was too irritated to measure the terrific consequences.’
marriage in Newland’s society
‘most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together by ignorance on the one side and hypocrisy on the other.’
key quote on Beaufort
‘Julius Beaufort (as became a ‘foreigner’ of doubtful origin) had what was known in New York as ‘another establishment’.’
description of Newland’s society, due to their use of symbols?
‘In reality, they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought’
example of Ellen breaking customs
‘It was not the custom in New York drawing-rooms for a lady to get up and walk away from one gentleman in order to seek the company of another. Etiquette required that she should wait, immovable as an idol, while the men …’
Newland’s thoughts on ‘nice’ women
‘he wondered at what age ‘nice’ women began to speak for themselves.’
Description of May
‘her face wore the vacant serenity of a young marble athlete’
In Newport what does Mrs Welland need
Mrs Welland has to have servants in Newport ‘partly drawn from the local African supply.’
Newland’s previous focus on the customs of his society
‘there was a time … when everything concerning the manners and customs of his little tribe had seemed to him fraught with worldwide significance.’
Newland’s thoughts on real people
‘He thought, “real people were living somewhere, and real things happening to them …”
upon marriage to May Archer had experienced what?
‘Archer had reverted to all his old inherited ideas about marriage. It was less trouble to conform with the tradition … There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free.’
May’s opinions on M. Riviere
“The little Frenchman? Wasn’t he terribly common?”
What is the family attitude towards Ellen?
‘The Mingotts had not proclaimed their disapproval aloud: their sense of solidarity was too strong. … Elen, in spite of all her opportunities and her privileges, had become simply ‘Bohemian’.’
what stance should a wife take when the husband is corrupting business matters
‘the elder ladies agreed, the wife of a man who had done anything disgraceful in business had only one idea: to efface herself, to disappear with him.’
quote that links to The Great Gatsby in relation to women and honesty
‘A woman’s standard of truthfulness was tacitly held to be lower: she was the subject creature, and versed in the arts of the enslaved.’
demonstration of relationships between women what effect does Madame Olenska’s attitude towards Mrs Beaufort have
‘Madame Olenska’s attitude towards Mrs Beaufort; it made the righteous reprobation of New York seem like a passing by on the other side.’
quote that links to Nick going to have “dinner with the Tom Buchanans”
‘The Newland Archers’
