1996. The British
novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings. "The
writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from their
readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By
a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events -- a marriage or a last
minute rescue from death -- but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral
reconciliation, even with the self, even at death." Choose a novel or play
that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify
the "spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation" evident in the
ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole.
Most people would think of a man marrying a woman he does not love, and allowing the love of his life to leave, as a very sad ending. This is what occurs in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, a story that centers on a man named Newland Archer living in upper class New York society during the 1870s. While this might not be a classic fairytale ending, it can nonetheless be deemed happy. This is due to the moral growth that Newland goes through, and due to the fact that the event highlights the brighter aspects of New York society.
During
the story, Newland is not the most honest person. He has a conflict of
interests—he’s married to a proper woman named Mary, yet he is not in love with
her. On the other hand, he is extremely attracted to her cousin, Countess Ellen
Olenska (who happens to be married to a Polish Count). At one point he lies to
Mary about having to go on a business trip, and instead goes to Boston to see
Countess Olenska. After a while, Ellen agrees to begin an affair with Newland.
However, she then decides that New York Society isn’t for her and makes plans
to return to Europe. By this point, Newland has lost all interest in
maintaining any form of a relationship with Mary, and informs Ellen that he too
is leaving New York to come with her to Europe.
Despite
this intention, Newland ultimately decides to stay in New York and remain
married to Mary. A huge factor in his decision is his discovery that Mary is
pregnant. Obviously, him remaining in New York is not the desired ending. He
does not love Mary, even hates her at times. Plus, he forces himself to let go
of Ellen, the love of his life, for good. However, it shows a great amount of
maturity and moral development. By remaining with Mary, Newland is finally
acknowledging that his actions have consequences, and that he has a duty to
support his wife and unborn child. After all, nobody forced him to marry Mary. However,
it is not until the conclusion of the book that he truly takes responsibility
for these actions.
This
moral reconciliation is significant because it finally shows the better aspects
of the New York society. Throughout The
Age of Innocence, the reader becomes disillusioned with the society just as
Newland does. After all, Newland feels pressured to marry Mary because of this
society. On top of that, Mary, who is seen as a true upper class New Yorker, is
extremely boring and unimaginative. However, it is this same society that helps
lead Newland to the right choice at the end of the book. In fact, it was Mary
who got Ellen to return to Europe (in hopes of separating the two) to remove
the temptation. Most of the women in this society knew about these actions, and
approved of them. Manipulative, yes, but Newland was manipulative too when he
was trying to have an affair with Ellen. Removing this temptation helped lead
Newland to his decision to end the affair once and for all. New York society
helped lead him to this decision. While the values might be old and the crowd
stuffy, the book finally revealed that not all their values need change.
Over
all, Newland is a dishonest man, unwilling to take responsibility for most of
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.
While he chooses to let go of the woman he truly loves in the end, the moral growth and
reconciliation he finally achieves makes the ending happier. This conclusion is
significant to the work as a whole because it highlights the better side of New
York Society, after the author has disillusioned readers from it from the very
first page. So, the ending might not be a storybook, idealistic ending, but it is happy nonetheless.
Haley, well I think your first priority should be to include the open prompt! That would really help clear things up on the exact topic of this essay. However looking at your thesis about Newland's moral growth I can see kind of what type of prompt this is. So going off your thesis I think this book is very interesting! I think you should just be more careful with paraphrasing the book. You seem to be a flight attendant instead of actually getting to your point. For example in your second paragraph I felt that you put details about the story, but didn't really tell us anything about his moral growth from it. Even though the detail about the story was nice I think you should put more effort in applying it to your thesis of Newland's growth! I see another big point of yours is how the ending is happier and I thought you did a good job of explaining that!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for bringing that to my attention! I completely forgot to include the open prompt... I guess that's what happens when I write these things super early in the morning :-)
DeleteHaley, I really enjoyed reading your post! I think you had a good understanding of the prompt and it really shows! Most happy endings involve the guy getting the girl of his dreams but I like how you pointed out the happy ending in this story was Newlands growth and how he matured enough to let go of who he loved for the responsible choice. I thing you did a good job of connecting the summary of the play to the prompt. Also I liked how you pointed out how the ending highlights the better side of New York society. I thought this was an interesting observation. I agree with Mackenzie though that you should have talked a little less about the plot of the play and a little more about the moral growth and how it effected the character. Overall you did a very good job though!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the first open prompts I've read that covers a story I'm unfamiliar with, but you did a good job of explaining the plot as much as I needed to understand it. I think a greater focus, like Isha and Mackenzie said, on the actual spiritual and moral growth of the character would better answer the prompt, though.
ReplyDeleteI know that this is a timed essay, but be careful about repetition? You kind of hit the phrase "new york society" very heavily, without ever explaining what it really was, or why Newland's abandoning love because of it was a positive moral choice. Maybe I'd need to read it to understand, but a piece of the essay feels missing, just a bit.