The Age of Innocent Gossip

Before I started reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, I had always thought it would have been so much fun to live like the characters did. Money, glamorous clothes, and mingling with Dukes and other New York royalty at the opera, all sounded like so much fun. However, when I began reading the book, I saw that the grass was not that green on the other side. One was constantly judged by every aspect; their clothes, who the talked to, where they lived, and even on what kind of food they served at their dinner parties. It seems that all these people did was about one another, like it was their life source or something. Were the New York aristocrats really that bored? I did find it rather amusing however that the go-to person for the latest dish was a man, Mr. Sillerton Jackson. Usually the novel’s designated gossip is a silly and a somewhat ridiculous woman. Mr. Sillerton Jackson however, appears as cool and collected as any other New York gentleman, and understands the importance of respect when it comes to sharing secrets, “For not only did his keen sense of honor forbid his repeating anything privately imparted, but he was fully aware that his reputation for discretion increased his opportunities of finding out what he wanted to know”(31). Gossip seems to be the driving force in these peoples lives, “what will so and so think if I wear this” “can you believe he showed up with her?”. You would think with all that money and the opportunity to travel and learn these New Yorkers would want to talk about things slightly more substantial than just how low-cut Countess Olenska’s dress was at last night’s opera.

The character of Newland Archer is slightly refreshing in the novel because it seems he does not really care about the latest bit of gossip, and overall finds the New York aristocrat scene rather unfulfilling. It is almost quite humorous. I have this image of Newland standing outside the door of a house with a look of dread on his face and the second the door opens he puts on a big smile and exclaims “How lovely to see you!” while on the inside he is going “kill me”, “The man had spent an unsatisfactory day . . . packed in the family landau the rolled from one tribal doorstep to another . . . with the feeling he had been shown off like a wild animal cunningly trapped” (87). Now this does not mean that he does not care about what others think of him. In the beginning of the novel Newland cares about his social standing just as much the rest, “What was or was not ‘the thing’ played a part as important in Newland Archer’s New York as the inscrutable totem errors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago” (24). I think Newland does not care what others think, but he just doesn’t know it yet. He is drawn Countess Olenska because of her ability to speak her mind and not worry about committing any social blunders. Newland wishes to have that same kind of bravery and I believe that is one of the many reasons why she attracts his attention.

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