The Age of Innocence
Essential Life Skills You'll Learn
Critical Thinking Through Literature
Develop analytical skills by examining the complex themes and character motivations in The Age of Innocence, learning to question assumptions and see multiple perspectives.
Historical Context Understanding
Learn to place events and ideas within their historical context, understanding how The Age of Innocence reflects and responds to the issues of its time.
Empathy and Perspective-Taking
Build empathy by experiencing life through the eyes of characters from different times, backgrounds, and circumstances in The Age of Innocence.
Recognizing Timeless Human Nature
Understand that human nature remains constant across centuries, as The Age of Innocence reveals patterns of behavior and motivation that persist today.
Articulating Complex Ideas
Improve your ability to express nuanced thoughts and feelings by engaging with the sophisticated language and themes in The Age of Innocence.
Moral Reasoning and Ethics
Develop your ethical reasoning by grappling with the moral dilemmas and philosophical questions raised throughout The Age of Innocence.
These skills are woven throughout the analysis, helping you see how classic literature provides practical guidance for navigating today's complex world.
The Age of Innocence follows Newland Archer, a respectable New York lawyer engaged to the perfect May Welland, who falls desperately in love with her scandalous cousin Ellen. Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece explores the roads not taken—and whether doing 'the right thing' always leads to the right life.
Meet Your Guide
Marcus, 33
corporate lawyer at old-money firm at prestigious Manhattan law firm
engaged to perfect society match May, falling for her unconventional cousin Ellen
Throughout this guide, you'll follow Marcus's story as they navigate situations that mirror the classic. trapped between safe conformity and dangerous passion in a world of rigid rules
Table of Contents
The Opera Box Society
Public Scandal, Private Choices
The Beaufort Ball: Power and Performance
The Ritual of Engagement Visits
The Art of Social Intelligence Gathering
The Weight of Social Expectations
The Van der Luydens' Silent Power
Ellen's Return to New York Society
Crossing Social Lines
The Weight of Social Expectations
The Burden of Other People's Secrets
The Art of Polite Dismissal
Yellow Roses and Hidden Meanings
The Outsider's Perspective
The Pursuit and the Flight
About Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born into New York's elite, she dissected their world with surgical precision. The Age of Innocence, written after WWI, looks back at the 1870s with both nostalgia and critique.
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