You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

Edith Wharton

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2013
Summary:
Edith Wharton uses characterization in the primary three characters in The Age of Innocence to explore the aspects of her life. Early adulthood is represented by May Welland Archer, who was born into New York 400, where society suppressed an individual's emotions, aspirations, and freedoms. The intermediate phase of her life is depicted in Newland Archer, who tests the confining limits of the society to which he belongs and strives to understand the role of emotions in achieving personal satisfaction. Wharton rejected and craved the ties of the New York 400 in the final phase of her life as portrayed in Ellen Olenska who left the 400, lived in Europe, and returned to New York. By developing these characters, Wharton attempts to retrospectively reconcile the transformations she experienced. Indeed, it will be clear that Wharton's work serves as a personal assessment of her self-actualization.
Title: Edith Wharton: self-actualization through characterization in The Age of Innocence.
161 views
47 downloads
Name(s): Feuerberg, Betty.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of English
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2013
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: iv, 51 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Edith Wharton uses characterization in the primary three characters in The Age of Innocence to explore the aspects of her life. Early adulthood is represented by May Welland Archer, who was born into New York 400, where society suppressed an individual's emotions, aspirations, and freedoms. The intermediate phase of her life is depicted in Newland Archer, who tests the confining limits of the society to which he belongs and strives to understand the role of emotions in achieving personal satisfaction. Wharton rejected and craved the ties of the New York 400 in the final phase of her life as portrayed in Ellen Olenska who left the 400, lived in Europe, and returned to New York. By developing these characters, Wharton attempts to retrospectively reconcile the transformations she experienced. Indeed, it will be clear that Wharton's work serves as a personal assessment of her self-actualization.
Identifier: 851064539 (oclc), 3360784 (digitool), FADT3360784 (IID), fau:4096 (fedora)
Note(s): bt Betty Feuerberg.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937
Women and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Feminism in literature
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360784
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU