Society in the Age of Innocence The Age of Innocence, written by Edith Wharton, is about the upper-class society of New York City in the 1990s 70 of the nineteenth century. The novel follows the life of an upper-class lawyer named Newland Archer. He will marry May Welland, who comes from another upper-class family. As the novel progresses, Newland begins to become curious about May's cousin, poor Ellen Olenska. Ellen is called “poor” because she is shameful in the eyes of the society around her. Ellen left her husband and returned to New York to be with her family. Divorce was not as acceptable in the high society of the 1870s as it is today. Newland initially tries to protect Ellen from the bad reputation she would perceive if she divorced her husband. Ultimately he just wants her to be free and longs to be with her for the woman she has become. There are still different levels of society in the world, but the differences are perhaps not so obvious. On the eve of Newland and May's engagement announcement, Newland meets Ellen for the first time. They were all present at the opera and Newland noticed how the rest of her peers talked and insulted poor Ellen. He didn't like it because he thought it would look bad in May. He wants May to be known as a socialite after marriage. Newland states that: "He did not in the least wish the future Mrs. Newland Archer to be a simpleton." (7) Even before the engagement he thought, from her shy ways, that she would not be as he wanted her to be in their society. He couldn't believe that May's family would allow Ellen to attend a public event like the opera. He also didn't want May to be severely influenced by Ellen. While being introduced to Ellen, the...... middle of paper......ewland and Dallas went to Ellen's house, but Newland never went in to see her. He sent Dallas in, sat on a bench outside for a few minutes, and then they headed back to their hotel. Here he had the chance to see what would happen between him and Ellen, but he gave up. One would imagine that he wanted to preserve the life he was living with May and let the dreams he had of being with Ellen finally end. Today we are the same as Newland was more than a hundred years ago. Protecting the people around us is more important than our own feelings. Newland lived the life society thought he should, and while he wasn't entirely unhappy, he always had the wonder of "what if?" People today do what they think is necessary to survive in the eyes of others. It may not always be what you want, but it is what your surroundings require.