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Oppression in literature
Society in the age of innocence edith wharton
Society in the age of innocence edith wharton
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Society is "an organized group periodically meeting because of common interests or beliefs; distinguishable by particular aims or standards of living; or a social circle having a clearly marked identity". Because society has "particular aims or standards of living", it restricts people on what they can and can not do according to their particular aims. Society therefore becomes oppressive and rejects what does not follow its usual way. Edith Wharton shows this in her literary works and shows the severeness of following this oppression. Wharton, author of Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome, shows that society is oppressive and restricts people of what they truly desire in these two different books.
The setting shows that no matter the place or people, society will always restrict. Ethan Frome takes place in a small, poor area called Starkfield, while Age of Innocence takes place in the large city of New York. New York is a big, rich city with sophisticated people who have higher standards and only expect the "best" behavior. In Age of Innocence, no family invites Beaufort to dinner or any social events due to his undesirable social status. He divorced his wife for a mistress which was unheard of at that time. Society had tried to restrict him to stay with his wife, and because he rejected this he is punished socially. In Ethan Frome, the town looks down upon Ethan Frome and his family for their past and their dissimilarity to the rest of the town. Mr. Hale does not pay Ethan when he asks for the advance, because he is taking advantage of Ethan. He is acting as the oppressor like society; and Ethan does not argue and therefore is like a follower being restricted, because he did not get paid. Also, wh...
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...rue desire to be with Ellen. When people follow society, they do not get what they truly desire and therefore their life is left unfulfilled.
Aristotle once said: "He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god". This statement is very true and applies to today's world as well as back then. Aristotle is basically saying that if you do not to follow society then you have a great power. Society is so oppressive that rejecting it means dire consequences. When Ellen Ollenska rejects society, she is treated horribly and is shut down by New York. Being able to overpass the oppressiveness of society means bravery and true loyalty to ones heart. Ethan and Newland did not pursue what they truly desired and therefore did not follow their heart. Their lives are left untrue and empty.
Ethan was an intelligent man, he had high dreams for himself as an engineer, and he wanted to have a life away from the ceaseless drudgery of life in Starksville. When his mother died leaving Zeena without a place to go, Ethan, being the kind man he was, offered to marry her because he felt obligated to do so. This decision however shut out his hopes for a better life. In order for Ethan to get an education he must have money. In order for Ethan to get money he must sell the farm. And with a new wife to take care of he could not possibly manage it. Ethan's decision to marry Zeena had fettered his social mobility and had brought about the backlash of Zeena's discontent.
Throughout “Ethan Frome,” Edith Wharton renders the idea that freedom is just out of reach from the protagonist, Ethan Frome. The presence of a doomed love affair and an unforgiving love triangle forces Ethan to choose between his duty and his personal desire. Wharton’s use of archetypes in the novella emphasizes how Ethan will make choices that will ultimately lead to his downfall. In Edith Wharton’s, “Ethan Frome.” Ethan is wedged between his duty as a husband and his desire for happiness; however, rather than choosing one or the other, Ethan’s indecisiveness makes not only himself, but Mattie and Zeena miserable.
In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the protagonist Ethan Frome has an unusual personality. Along with this, Ethan’s motivations seem hidden. Ethan mainly associates with his wife Zeena and his young lover Mattie. The reason his social circle is limited is because the town has shunned him. The people have isolated him due to the decisions he has made. The story begins with the new town Reverend who forms a special interest in Ethan. Furthermore, the story goes back in time to explain why the town treats Ethan the way they do.
Ethan Frome is the main character of Edith Wharton’s tragic novel. Ethan lives the bitterness of his youth’s lost opportunities, and dissatisfaction with his joyless life and empty marriage. Throughout the story Ethan is trapped by social limits and obligations to his wife. He lives an unhappy life with many responsibilities and little freedom. Ethan Frome studied science in college for a year and probably would have succeeded as an engineer or physicist had he not been summoned home to run the family farm and mill. Ethan quickly ended his schooling and went to run the family farm and mill because he feels it is his responsibility. He marries Zeena after the death of his mother, in an unsuccessful attempt to escape silence, isolation, and loneliness. Ethan also feels the responsibility to marry Zeena as a way to compensate her for giving up part of her life to nurse his mother. After marring Zeena he forgets his hope of every continuing his education and he is now forced to remain married to someone he does not truly love.
From the beginning of the story, society opposed Ethan Frome in any ways. To begin with, he was a prisoner with his wife, Zeena. Just because Zeena took care of his mother as she was dying, Ethan felt like she was the woman for him. However, when Zeena’s cousin Mattie came to live with them, he instantly fell in love with her, and felt nothing but audacity towards his wife. When Zeena goes away due to her illness, Ethan and Mattie sit at home planning their future ahead of them. He plans to elope and run away with Mattie, but he cannot lie to his neighbors, Mr and Mrs. Hale in order to achieve the money he needs. In the end, Ethan decides to abandon life itself along with his true love Mattie. Ethan was a prisoner to poverty. When he was young, he wanted to leave his family farm in order to move to a larger town to become an engineer. However, that plan backfired and he was trapped in Starkfield for life. Society does not want Ethan to be happy for he committed adultery and treated his wife like she didn’t matter. The gravestones in his yard are a reminder t...
In the book Ethan Frome, the main character, Ethan, is oppressed in many different ways. First of all, Ethan’s wife, Zeena, has become a burden on Ethan psychologically and finacially. Zeena seems to have a form of paranoia that makes her think she is much sicker than she actually is. This problem has gotten to Ethan at many points in the book. She has also become a finacial burden on Ethan because of her almost monthy commutes to Bettsbridge, where she sees a doctor about her failing health. In Ethan Frome, Zeena seems to be the one that is always oppressing Ethan. Zeena never lets Ethan do what he wants, when he wants. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is basically oppressed by society and the laws of society. She is oppressed mainly because she is black, but also because she is a woman. In each of her three marriages, Janie is oppressed by her husbands. All of them expect her to do things the way they want them done, and she does not seem to respect this. Janie also is not allowed to strive for her dreams or desires because she is black. In this situation, it seems that it is a combination of society’s oppressive laws and the repression of Janie’s feelings and desires that hold her back from her goals.
Though too intelligent for rural life, Ethan finds himself stuck in an average man's shoes. Leaving any opportunity he had to become someone in life, Ethan moves back to Starkfield to take care of his ailing mother and attend to their farm(Wharton 29). Rather than living a lonesome life after his mother passes away, Ethan asks Zeena to stay with him, which turns out to be his first mistake (Wharton, 29). As soon as his mother passed away, Ethan should have asked Zeena to leave and sold his farm. His love for learning and keenness for engineering could have led Ethan to a much better life. Unfortunately, he feels obligated to stay with Zeena, thus ending all hope for a better life.
While everyone is legally intitled to the pursuit of happiness, the truth of the matter is that very few ever achieve it. Ones morals, standards, conscious, or perhaps even fate, keep them from accepting a pure form of satisfaction. While a person can search and struggle their entire life for happiness, the truth of the matter is, that they will never be happy with what they have infront of them. The character Ethan, portrayed in Edith Whartons novel, Ethan Frome, is emotionally weak, he battles constantly with what he wants, how to get it, and what is ethically right. Ethan was obligated to care for his wife Zeena until death, but his misguided decisions lead him to be concerned only with his immediate happiness. Much like Ethan in Ethan Frome, people who concentrate on personal happiness, without factoring in personal responsibility, set themselves up for a painful reality check.
Ethan is not happy with his life and feels that it is his obligation to stay on the farm and work like his parents had “readers discover a man who feels overwhelmed by family responsibilities and who cannot free himself from what he believes to be family expectations.” (Witkosky). This obligation, and what Ethan believes to be his family expectations, ultimately helped lead to his decision in staying in Starkfield and not pursuing a happier life with Mattie elsewhere. Ethan also feels that even though all of his family members had died a long time ago, he still senses their presence, and he feels pressured to continue the family custom “Ethan senses their presence; in his eyes, the headstones on their graves, located near his farm, are like sentinels who guard and enforce family custom.” (Witkosky). Lastly the location of the Frome household in rural Massachusetts did not help the fact of Ethan’s isolation and his inability to socialize with others. Wharton symbolizes this loneliness and isolation by giving the town of Starkfield a cold and frozen setting, which is symbolic towards Ethan’s inability to move forward in his life “, the lack of social mobility in rural Massachusetts plays a role in Ethan's acceptance of the idea that he has no chance for advancement.” (Witkosky). Ethan’s ability to not being able to move forward
The setting of a novel aids in the portrayal of the central theme of the work. Without a specific place and social environment, the characters are just there, with no reason behind any of their actions. The Age of Influence centers around the Old New York society during the 1870’s. Most of the characters are wealthy upper class citizens with a strict code to follow. The protagonist, Newland Archer, lives in a constant state of fear of being excluded from society for his actions. Archer’s character is affected by standard New York conventions as well as the pressure to uphold his place in society, both of which add to Wharton’s theme of dissatisfaction.
In the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, the character of Ethan Frome plays an important role in the development of the rest of the book. He has several character traits which distinguish him from the other main characters. Also, there are many factors which play against him throughout the novel.
...el, The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson accentuates the fact that society’s expectations of a character causes negative impacts upon their lives through the creation of a struggle to achieve his goal. Ian is an impeccable example of this because he is prone to adolescent tendencies due to youth. Ian struggles to achieve his goals due to the following expectations: to leave Struan, for a superior opportunity to become successful; to strive for a medical career, since he excels at the trade already; and to … Society is too abrupt in its assumptions of an individual, these assumptions often catch one unprepared, spreading chaos and confusion through one’s mind. It would be substantially more beneficial if society did not place expectations at all.
This essay has compared the differences between the societies in these two novels. There is one great similarity however that both make me thankful for having been born into a freethinking society where a person can be truly free. Our present society may not be truly perfect, but as these two novels show, it could be worse.
In The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, the narrator describes Archer and Ellen’s need for freedom in order to show their desire to escape the abuse of society. Newland Archer wishes death on his wife because he believes if she dies so will societies pressures. And Ellen Olenska rejects Archer’s proposal for freedom to find her own independence. Ellen Olenska rethinks her divorce in order to become less of an outsider
It’s 1899; the Industrial Revolution is beginning to emerge and women are gradually wanting to feel as equal as their male counterparts and wanting a say on things. It wasn’t considered normal for women to defy what society expected of them. You were supposed to do as you were told from any man and be the perfect wife and mother to your children. There is always that one person who is brave enough to go against this and “march to the beat of their own drum”. How can someone be themselves if they are following someone else’s rules? How does one go about retaining their integrity with the pressures of society’s expectations? These questions correlate to Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening. Throughout the novel, Kate Chopin illustrates Edna Pontellier’s quest for identity and independence through having an affair with two other men, neither of which are her husband. Edna’s outlook on life changes drastically while staying in Grand Isle. She used to obey the rules of society but the oppressiveness of it is too much for her which eventually leads her rebel. When one rebels, they must go through sacrifice so they can live life the way they intend it to be for them. She sacrifices relationships and eventually ends her journey with her final awakening in the ocean. In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier demonstrates the unconventional woman and proves that the perspective that society holds of women is stifling, which prompts a woman to sacrifice herself in order to retain her integrity.