T e A g of Innocence: An An t ropological Study The Age of Innocence: Lecture 8 Chapters 19-21 Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
dressing Novel as an excavation of New York’s social customs behavior customs dressing Newland, an archaeologist , uncovers and records the social customs of ONY through his detailed observations and questions about it. Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
e h t o t n i r e t n e s r e d a f e o R d l r o w l a i c o s c i a h c r a Y N O Wednesday, July 10, 13
‘the prehistoric ritual’ • Marriage as a social construct • Marriage as a rite of passage • ‘nineteenth century New York wedding a rite that seemed to belong to the dawn of history ’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
‘haven’ ‘ruling clans’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
‘haven’ ‘ruling clans’ climbing the social ladder Wednesday, July 10, 13
Maintaing / ‘haven’ Retaining your ‘ruling clans’ social position climbing the social ladder Wednesday, July 10, 13
Archer had sat up half the night trying to vary the wording of his thanks for the last batch of presents from men friends and ex-lady-loves… ‘gold and sapphire sleeve-links’ ‘eight bouquets of white lilac and ‘plum-coloured satin with blue side-panels, lilies-of-the- and blue ostrich plumes in a small satin bonnet, met with general approval’ valley’ ‘cat’s-eye scarf-pin’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
Archer had sat up half the night trying to vary the wording of his thanks for the last batch of presents from men friends and ex-lady-loves… ‘gold and sapphire sleeve-links’ ‘eight bouquets of white lilac and ‘plum-coloured satin with blue side-panels, lilies-of-the- and blue ostrich plumes in a small satin bonnet, met with general approval’ valley’ ‘cat’s-eye scarf-pin’ Archer’s catalogue of details Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
Archer had gone through this formality as resignedly as through all the others which made of a nineteenth century New York wedding a rite that seemed to belong to the dawn of history. Everything was equally easy — or equally painful, as one chose to put it — in the path he was committed to tread , and he had obeyed the flurried injunctions of his best man as piously as other bridegrooms had obeyed his own , in the days when he had guided them through the same labyrinth. Wednesday, July 10, 13
obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey obey Wednesday, July 10, 13
Archer had gone through this formality as resignedly as through all the others which made of a nineteenth century New York wedding a rite that seemed to belong to the dawn of history. Everything was equally easy— or equally painful, as one chose to put it — in the path he was committed to tread, and he had obeyed the flurried injunctions of his best man as piously as other bridegrooms had obeyed his own, in the days when he had guided them through the same labyrinth . Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
Newland Archer, at a signal from the sexton, had come out of the vestry and placed himself with his best man on the chancel step of Grace Church… During this unavoidable lapse of time the bridegroom, in proof of his eagerness, was expected to expose himself alone to the gaze of the assembled company. Wednesday, July 10, 13
Newland Archer, at a signal from the sexton, had come out of the vestry and placed himself with his best man on the chancel step of Grace Church… During this unavoidable lapse of time the bridegroom, in proof of his eagerness, was expected to expose himself alone to the gaze of the assembled company. Wednesday, July 10, 13
Newland Archer, at a signal from the Mar r a g as sexton, had come out of the vestry and placed himself with his best man on the chancel step of Grace Church… During cultural this unavoidable lapse of time the bridegroom, in proof of his eagerness, s ectacle was expected to expose himself alone to the gaze of the assembled company. Wednesday, July 10, 13
‘y o r arm - I say, give her y o r arm!’ Newland Archer, at a signal from the Mar r a g as sexton, had come out of the vestry and placed himself with his best man on the chancel step of Grace Church… During cultural this unavoidable lapse of time the bridegroom, in proof of his eagerness, s ectacle was expected to expose himself alone to the gaze of the assembled company. Wednesday, July 10, 13
SPRING ABYSS ABYSS ABYSS ‘faded’, ‘yellowing’, ‘bitter smell of camphor’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
‘P ompeiian ves tj bul e’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
The Marchioness's foolish lisp had called up a vision of the little fire-lit drawing-room and the sound of the carriage-wheels returning down the deserted street. He thought of a story he had read, of some peasant children in T uscany lighting a bunch of straw in a wayside cavern, and revealing old silent images in their painted tomb . Wednesday, July 10, 13
The Marchioness's foolish lisp had called up a vision of the little fire-lit drawing-room and the sound of the carriage-wheels returning down the deserted street. He thought of a story he had read, of some peasant children in T uscany lighting a bunch of straw in a wayside cavern, and revealing old silent images in their painted tomb . Death motif: Marriage to May is a ‘painted tomb’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
The Marchioness's foolish lisp had called up a vision of the little fire-lit drawing-room and the sound of the carriage-wheels returning down the deserted street. He thought of a story he had read, of some peasant children in T uscany lighting a bunch of straw in a wayside cavern, and revealing old silent images in their painted tomb . Death motif: Marriage to May is a ‘painted tomb’ Thoughts of Ellen: rekindle passion ‘revealing old silent images’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
perpetually perpetually perpetually DEATH BY MONOTONY Archer’s surreal reality Wednesday, July 10, 13
perpetually perpetually perpetually DEATH BY MONOTONY Archer’s surreal reality ‘it was one of the houses in which one always knew exactly what is happening at a given hour’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
SON-IN-LAW ‘MUST’ the same script OBLIGATION ‘BUT’ ‘ALWAYS’ had tried TRADITION INDIVIDUAL DESIRE FAMILIAL ‘DUT Y’ Wednesday, July 10, 13
‘Diana-like aloofness’ ‘tranquil unawareness’ ‘the simple girl of yesterday’ ‘handsomer’ ‘more Diana-like than ever’ Archer’s misreading Wednesday, July 10, 13
Newland: THE Unenlightened Ethnographer ‘ Archer had reverted to all his old inherited ideas about marriage. It was less trouble to conform with the tradition and treat May exactly as all his friends treated their wives than to try to put into practice the theories with which his untrammelled bachelorhood had dallied. ‘ Wednesday, July 10, 13
Wednesday, July 10, 13
CONCLUSION Consequently, the promise of maturation that marriage might bring in the opening of Book Two is evidently unrealised. For Newland Archer, Old New York has become a “study gallery” of rituals. Archer is a failed ethnologist who simply observes but does not entirely understand, performing the very rituals that he criticizes. Wednesday, July 10, 13
Marriage is presented as a cultural performance of social obligation and observance and is a platform through which the rituals of a soon-to-be antiquated world are detailed and observed. Instead, Newland’ s visions will remain buried with him. His buried life thus foreshadows the disintegration of Old New York as seen in the room of ‘Cesnola antiquities’ in Ch 31 that functions as a metaphor for Old New York. Wednesday, July 10, 13
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