Vu 1 Edith Wharton: A Woman Against the Norm A woman who strayed from the norm of her time, Edith

Wharton, a social realist, wrote novels and short stories about the lives of the aristocratic, instead of following the trend of the modernist writers of her time. Although Wharton lived a life of luxury, she did not indulge in it, but instead lived a rather simplistic life as she drew up observations of those in her class to write her stories. Edith Whartons upper-class upbringing in elite New York society, her lackluster and unfulfilling marriage to Teddy Wharton as well as her influential writer friends inspired and encouraged Wharton to write novels and other works that focused on the lives and social standings of women and men; her style of writing as well as her choice to write as a profession set her apart from other writers. Wharton grew up in the upper-class society of New York, where everything was lavish and filled with the finer things in life. She was born Edith Newbold Jones on January 24, 1862 in New York City to George Frederic and Lucretia Jones (Updike). Wharton came from a long line of inherited money, where her parents were descendants of English and Dutch colonists who had made fortunes in shipping, banking, and real estate" (Dwight, Winner). Wharton was born into a family who came from old money, and so she did not have to care about her expense. The social order Wharton grew up in, expected women to be to be slightly educated and shielded from society, as well as a piece of arm candy; Wharton was anything but that, for she wasnt as graceful as the ideal elitist woman, but instead she was an avid reader and awkward (Updike). Society expected Wharton to live and act a certain way, but she did not live up to their expectations. Edith Whartons early
Figure 1 - Fifth Avenue in New York City on Easter Sunday in 1900 (Wired New York)

Vu 2 life was constantly filled with the elite; they were sophisticated and elegant, something Wharton was not. She had the opportunities to experience and to observe the lifestyles of the wealthy and influential. These experiences would later provide a base and an inspiration for Whartons literary works. Wharton traveled in her younger years wither family, but was lonely. When her family returned back home from Europe, Edith was fluent in numerous languages, including French, German, and Italian, at a young age of ten (Updike). At a young age, Wharton was already well educated and a cosmopolitan and "had two much older brothers, and thus she was essentially an only child; like many only children she seems to have used her imagination to produce fictions that would serve as an antidote to loneliness" (Lowe 539). Wharton spent much of her free time writing to avoid the loneliness she felt. Her mother supported her writing and even her education during her adolescent years by having Wharton's poems published and employed private tutors "to instruct her in carefully selected literature and the
Figure 2 - Wharton as a Child (National Portrait Gallery)

foreign languages" (Lowe 539). Lucretia fostered and

encouraged her daughters writing and education, instead of disheartening her. Growing up in a not-so-nurturing environment proved catastrophic and calamitous to Whartons self esteem. Wharton was not the most appealing to look at in her family and because of this she stood out from others and was self-conscious about it, and her brothers in fact told her teasingly that her hands and feet were too big, and her sense of being the least physically

Vu 3 attractive member of the family was one of reasons for a growing shyness and self-consciousness" (Lewis 24). Her family never commented on her appearance and this in turn caused Wharton to shy away and fear from the attention (Lewis 24, 33). Wharton knew that she wasnt the prettiest, and with the constant taunting she received from her brothers, her self-esteem suffered and was quite low. Whartons marriage to Teddy Wharton was fruitless and unfulfilling for they had no common interests. At the age of twenty three, Wharton married Teddy Wharton, a man thirteen years her senior, in 1885 (Dwight, Winner). Mr. Wharton came from a well-to-do family, similar to Mrs. Wharton, and was a man interested in sports and leisure (Dwight, Winner). Their family backgrounds and status were the only things the husband and wife had in common because Teddy Wharton had none of [his wifes] artistic or intellectual interests (Dwight, Winner). Their lack of interests was the demise of their marriage. Not only did the couple have nothing in common, but the physical part of their marriage was also lacking for Wharton entered into it in almost complete ignorance of sex and blind dread of what was in store for her" (Lewis 53). Because her husband did not have the same level of intellect as Edith did, she was forced to look for people who could hold her interest and participate in intellectual discussions. In The Fullness of Life, Whartons unhappiness in her marriage is reflected in her story where the husbands boots creaked and he always slammed the door ... and he never read anything but railway novels and
Figure 4 - Wharton and Family (Beineckepoetry) Figure 3 - Young Edith Wharton (National Portrait Gallery)

the sporting advertisements in the paper-and-in short, we

Vu 4 never understood each other (Lowe 540). She used her writing as an escape from her marriage, but she also used it to vent her feelings. Wharton wanted someone who she could discuss various things with, not someone who she had to take care of (Lewis 540). It was clear the Mrs. Wharton was unhappy with her marriage. She and her husband were complete opposites and did not fulfill the others needs. The unhappiness she felt was transcribed into her novels, where she put her thoughts and emotions into it. Whartons writings differed from the contemporary writing style of her day for she instead created her own set of rules to define how an author should write. Wharton lived in the era during the transition into modernism; Americas economy was in a low and World War I occurred. Modernism is movement the fixated on the cultural crises in an exciting way. Social realism focuses on the ugly realities of life; Wharton was a social realist, who turned her artistic eye toward critiquing the ways that power comports itself within American culture along the great axes of sex and class (Edith Wharton). She focused solely on the effects of the social conditions of society, and she consistently condemned a sexual caste system that debilitated both sexes, especially women (Edith Wharton). Women were the big focus points especially their positions in society and their inability to escape male dominance (Edith Wharton). Wharton believed that "an author should deal only with what is within her reach" and that her subject must be one that expressed her own experience" (Lowe 541). A writers character is as valuable as the author sees it (Lowe 541). Wharton dictated how she wrote instead of following the trend of contemporary writing styles. This set her apart from the writers of her time.

Figure 5 Women of the 1900's (Gjenvick)

Vu 5 Throughout her marriage life to her death, Whartons friends provided her inspirations for themes and characters for her stories. The most influential were the author friends she accumulated over the years such as Paul Bourget, who "drew her into talk about books and ideas; and more exciting yet for an uncertain apprentice, he exchanged with her - no one in her life had done this before- notions about fictional technique" (Lewis 69). Paul Bourgets "presence aroused in Edith Wharton a swirl of confused feelings about her own creative intentions, and at that same time it unloosed a flood of highly intellectualized conversation" (69). Her friend Walter Berry was the first person to recognize and encourage her literary talents for "he took in the nature of imaginative capacity, he praised her, he shared with her his other literary enthusiasms-Zola, Henry James, Stevenson-and by implication he drew her as a writer, into the company of the living masters of fiction" (Lewis 85). Wharton was not only inspired by these men, but motivated too. They planted ideas and gave her tips to be a better writer; no one else had taken such time to aid her. The publications of works and the formation of a fan club brought Whartons career, after death, back up from when it had diminished. Edith Whartons popularity was the highest while she was alive. Her fame dwindled after her death on 11 April 1937 and the publication of unflattering accounts of Whartons life, "which depicted her as a grand and rather frosty society matron and an inferior disciple of Henry James" (Lowe 555). Although her popularity declined after her death, it started to rise up again, especially because of the "Wharton conferences held at [her home] and the Edith Wharton Society issuing a Newsletter" (Lowe 555). It took other people to bring her popularity back up. Other writers such as Cynthia Griffin Wolff, whose perceptive analysis of Wharton's oeuvre, A Feast of Words, began a psychoanalytic linkage of Wharton's life and aesthetic, one that has been deepened and complicated by more overtly

Vu 6 feminist critics such as Elizabeth Ammonias and Elaine Showwalter" (Lewis 555). Thanks to the publications of various writers, her works became popular again. Without them, Whartons work may not be known. Edith Wharton used the events in her life to create her stories. Her literary friends encouraged her to write and refined her writing style. Her marriage caused her turmoil, but from her toxic relationship were great inspirations. One of them was a womans place in society and in the household, which is also a central theme in her stories and novels. Her focus on society made her a social realist. Wharton was one of the only writers of her time to focus solely on the difference in the sexes. Though she was a successful woman, her female characters contradicted Whartons lifestyle, for they were filled with turmoil and had no chance of happiness. This contradiction set Wharton apart from all other authors. Works Cited Figure 4 - Beineckepoetry. "American Lawn." Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities. N.p., 2 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://beineckeroom26.library.yale.edu>. Dwight, Eleanor, and Viola Hopkins Winner. Edith Whartons World: Portraits of People and Places. National Portrait Gallery. Smithsonian, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <http://www.npg.si.edu>. Edith Wharton: A Realist, not a Romantic. The New York Times. N.p., 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com>. Lewis, R. W.B. Edith Wharton: A Biography. Illus. C. Linda Dingler. 1975. New York: Fromm International Publishing Corporation, 1985. Print.

Vu 7 Lowe, John. Edith Wharton: 1862-1937. Modern American Women Writers. Ed. Elaine Showalter, Lea Baechler, and A. Walton Litz. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1991. 539-556. Print. Figure 2 - May, Edward Harrison. Edith Jones 1862-1937. 1870. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 10 December 2011. Web. <http://www.npg.si.edu>. Figure 3 - May, Edward Harrison. Edith Jones 1862-1937. 1881. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 10 December 2011. Web. <http://www.npg.si.edu>. Updike, John. The Changeling: A New Biography of Edith Wharton. The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2007. <http://www.newyorker.com>. Figure 5 - Women of the 1900s. Gjenvick-Gjonvik Archives. N.p. Web. 10 December 2011. <http://www.gjenvick.com>. Figure 1 Fifth Avenue in New York City on Easter Sunday in 1900. Wired New York. N.p. Web. 10 December 2011. <http://wirednewyork.com>. You Are So Hypocritical! Edith Whartons The Age of Innocence is a novel whose center focus is an adulterous relationship, although the title of the story itself is contradicting. Unlike what the title states, the novel delves into a scandalous relationship which highlights the irony of the title. Wharton discloses that although her characters are part of this high and prestigious New York society, they all have something to hide. Mr. Beaufort, a minor but important character, is an excellent example for the Beaufort house [was] one that New Yorkers were proud to show foreigners, but it was all very well to whisper that he had been helped to leave England by the

Vu 8 international banking-house (Wharton 15). Despite Mr. Beaufort has a shady financial history, society overlooks this to instead concentrate on his grandeur and elegant appearance expressed through his house. He craftily masks his skeletons through his magnificent house, which gives him the ability to be welcomed into the high class society of New York. The fact the New York society has no qualms of accepting questionable people, such Beaufort, into their clan because of their ability to look presentable in public is appalling to Wharton. The title of her book is meant to question the people of her time, as to why they are able to accept such disgraceful people because of the money they possess. Wharton tries to convey the two-facedness of New Yorks love for innocence and money. Newland Archer, the main character and partaker of the adulterous affair, comes to the realization that the society he lives in is hypocritical and recognizes that when such things happened [(affairs)] it was undoubtedly foolish of the man, but somehow always criminal of the woman (68). Archer always abides to the standards and morals of his society, but he cannot help but criticize the society he grew up in. He cannot help but notice the flaws and double standards that have been set, especially on affairs concerning gender. Affairs are always look down upon in New York, but men seem to be let off easy and no one cares a great deal about what he has done, but a woman is criticized harshly and treated like a criminal. Edith Wharton throughout book and title of her novel delves into the contradicting standards of New York. The title The Age of Innocence points out that there is nothing innocent about this era and as long as infidelity and unfavorable pasts were not publicized to everyone, the person will be accepted.

Work Cited Wharton, Edith. Stephen Orgel, ed. The Age of Innocence. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print

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