Sample A1
Ms. Jensen
AP Literature- Second Hour
21 Feb. 2012
Wharton and the Struggle for Love in the Upper-Class
Love is a struggle and people struggle to love, but the heart is very much a splendored thing. The human heart is an important, yet fragile organ, and Newland Archer and Lily Bart from Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth both have conflicted hearts. Newland is enamored and in love with the infamous Ellen Olenska, the cousin of his future wife, May Welland; and Lily is in love with Lawrence Seldon, a man of lower status who would not be able to support her lifestyle in a partnership. These struggles stem from the high status that Newland and Lily hold in their societies. Being part of the elite requires maintaining their image and following unspoken rules of their societies, including rules on love. Through Wharton’s characters Newland Archer and Lily Bart, the struggle for true love in the upper ranks of society is revealed.
There are many expectations and restraints for the elite. Wharton grew up as part of the upper-class in Old New York and experienced the tight leash of her society, which would later influence her work (The Mount). She lived in a world full of “unwritten rules, unspoken secrets, and understood meanings,” all present in her novels(Sand 23). Both Newlandand Lily’s storiesoccur in New York’s upper-class where women are “expected to be pretty and well-dressed” until they drop, and men were to “see [ladies] thorough whatever difficulties” and support them (Wharton House of Mirth 15, Wharton Age of Innocence 16). Aspects of Wharton’s novels are clearly reflective of her life, and a struggle between “societal mores and the pursuit of happiness,” is revealedas a theme (Merriman). Newland and Lily have to be certain people in certain ways, but they have other desires and longings, especially for peoplesocially out of reach. When love came into the picture, people could not easily choose who they wanted. The hidden rule was someone of equal or higher social standing and wealth. Newland and May get engaged because they both have prominence in New York and their families thought the match was good; and for Lily, she sought out a man with equal or greater status to her because that was the acceptable thing to do. The upper-class has so many unspoken words that affect multiple aspects of life, but they help form the image of the elite.
The expectations of peoplehelp form status and image,an integral aspect of Newland and Lily’s struggle for love. With internal warfare, they have to put up a front and brace the world with a smiling face. Lily would not and could not marry outside of her social standing for it would cripple her, and so she minglesto keep par with her expectations and it was an unwritten rule. She flirts withoutrageously boring elite people inan attempt to find a suitable suitorwho would be able to keep up with her habits and addictions and maintain or escalate her social standing. Wharton’s characters tend to have a “voracious appetite for status,” Lilybeing no exception and Newland being a little more subtle(Gerard). Newland meets with Ellen privately and tries to keep their meets secret so that his image, and even Ellen’s already rocky image, would not be tainted. Relationships were a huge part of the elite. May caught a hint of Newland and Ellen, yet she chose not to say anything going along with unspoken secrets.In the end, she finds a way to keep Newland with her using an understood meaning. In Lily’s case, someone went out of their way to accuse her of having a nonexistent affair that would shatter and defame her.During the course of these novels, status is an extremely important concept for people to remain in good standing and to be perceived in the right light. Wharton’s characters lead cushiony lives and do what they can to keep up their image and to please their peers, but they did have moments of relapse.
Despite status and image, the upper-class constantly indulges and denies. Here, unspoken secrets occur. Newland and Lily sin by playing with their temptations and they would later reject them in a sense. Once in a while the elite would put the pursuit of happiness ahead of their societal obligations. Lily interacts with Seldon and she is different to him compared to others. She would “[come] forward smiling, eager almost, in her resolve to intercept him” because he was her guilty pleasure that she would embrace even if it was against the hidden code (Mirth5). Since the beginning, there was something about Lily and Seldon that made sense, and Lily knew the connection and dips her feet in the water, but later on she advances on others to live up to her duty. Only alone would she reminisce, which was revealed when Seldon “with a strange commotion to the heart, [found] a note he had written to her the day after the Bry’s entertainment” while going through her things after her death (Mirth347). She kept little things that would remind her of the only person she truly loved. Newland did the same, “through the night he pursued through enchanted pages the vision of a woman who had the face of Ellen Olenska” and he would send “a note by messenger to Madame Olenska, asking if he might call” because he had an attraction to her the he could not put down (Innocence 119, 108). Lily and Newland bask in the company of their secret significant counterpart. However, every time they indulge they find means of distraction through others. Archer went back to May after seeing Ellen, and Lily sought eligible bachelors such as Americana specialists. People of the upper class loved to push the boundary they had around them, but they would always wind up back in the center with all the things that made them who they are.
Being a part of the upper-class means having money. Money to indulge, money to travel, and money to do as one pleases. Money is an important aspect of relationships in the upper-class because most want to maintain their lifestyle that they have been accustomed too. Wealth was a luxury, but ends upbecoming a limitation of love. Lily has a gambling addiction and states that she was “poor-and very expensive” and that“she had to have a great deal of money” to be happy (Mirth12). Money is one concept that changes things up by blending the pursuit of happiness and societal norms because they work together. Archer is setup with May because he has money and she has money backing her name. Together, the two were spoiled because theytravelled and constantly attended opera shows. When Ellen moves into the frame, Archer is able to maintain two loves because his money permits him to do so. One day he could send flowers to Ellen and a few hours later he could, “when morning came, decide to pitch some clothing into a portmanteau and jump on board a boat that was leaving that very afternoon” to a place where May was to surprise her (Innocence120). Wealth is definitely a large aspect of the upper-class, but the effects could be both negative and positive, but endorse both the pursuit of happiness and maintenance of social standing. Money is the only example of happiness in the upper-class due to its various and flexible use to please others and to please oneself. Money plays different roles in Wharton’s novels, but there is such a large importance to wealth overall and it aids people in the decisions they make in life.
In the end, the pressure of high society catches up to people. They assume the roles that they were born to play and the roles that they have been practicing for all their lives. For Lily and Newland, their lives catch up to them and force them to do what would be best for their social standing. Their period of indulgence was up and they had to move on into a new phase of their privileged lives, for better or for worse. Newland ends up with May and gets “called a faithful husband” because he did not leave May’s side (Innocence294). He stops seeing Ellen when May reveals that she is pregnant, which was an understood meaning because the news grounded Newland and kept him with her and she had victory in her eyes. Here, Newland gives up his pursuit of happiness and gives up on telling May that he is in love with Ellen so that he could fill in his societal obligation to his wife and future family. Newland stillclung to the memory of Ellen, even after years passed. He found an opportunity to reunite with Ellen, but instead “Newland Archer got up slowly and walked back to his hotel alone” so that his memories would not become tarnished (Innocence307). Newland gave into society, but still had the memories to indulge in and they would not harm the secret codes. Lily, even after becoming an outcast in her own world, did her share of good as well. She works hard to repay debts and focuses with extreme dedication. She cleared her name for society, and does not get the chance to be with Seldon in the end. Seldon “to his surprise, found that all the bills were receipted; there as not an unpaid account among them” because Lily was dedicated to the upper-class (Mirth347). She focused on doing all she could to repay debts and maybe move back up the social ladder. However, the one thing she was passionate about was what she got done. She was able to repay her debts and her death right after emphasizes her devotion and dedication to staying alive and muddling through her high class society. In the end, the upper-class is upper-class and they do what they are destined to do in life.
Expectations come with the life of an upper-class individual. People see others in a certain light and expect certain things, but of course the light is narrow so one false move is like a fall into a pit. The pressure in the upper-class society is so immense that people tend to regress and stick to the societal norms because it is easy and what they are accustomed to. Love was impossible for the two Wharton characters because of their social standing. Newland could not be with Ellen for he was already with May, and Lily could not be with Seldon because he could not support her addiction and he was not of her stature. Breaking off arrangements and running away with a lower class was going against the unwritten rules. Trivial things are analyzed in the upper society making money their only means of happiness that is still an important aspect of their high societal life. Love is something that does not fit nicely into the equation of the upper-class.
Works Cited
"Edith Wharton Biography." The Mount. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.
Gerard, Bonnie. "From Tea to Chloral: Raising the Dead Lily Bart - Character in Woman Author Edith Wharton's Book 'The House of Mirth'" Resource Library. CBS, 1998. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.
Merriman, C. D. "Edith Wharton." The Literature Network. 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.
Sand, Andrea. "Wharton's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE." Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1996. Print.
Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Print.