The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

A classic American novel, The Age of Innocence offers social satire, analysis of national characteristics, and a critique of the oppression of women and a too-rigid class structure. Set in New York in the 1870s, the novel shows how three characters respond to community pressures. Beautiful, conventional May Welland is an unquestioning product of the societal system which asks women to be innocent, unthinking, and, ultimately, cruel in their defense of it. Newland Archer is an insider as well, but one who has seen enough and thought enough to question the conventions that surround him. The exotic Ellen Olenska, who returns to New York after living in Europe for several years, challenges conventions and experiences the consequences. Newland marries May, but falls in love with Ellen. His struggle, between the safety and clarity of New York society which May represents and the freedom and passion which Ellen represents, is the struggle of the book. Wharton makes a plea for a morality based not on convention but rather on humanistic and fair ethics.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.