Status Updates From The Age of Innocence

Reason tells him May has commanded him to be kind to Ellen. He is no longer a free man because of that command. He and May had so little time to talk he didn’t get a chance to tell her about his appointment. On top of that he is very curious about why Ellen asked him to come. A non-Engish-speaking maid answers the door and Ellen is not there. They gesture and he speaks words from Dante. LOL

He had hoped to spend the afternoon with May in the park but they had to make the rounds in announcing their betrothal. He felt like a caged animal being shown off. He is disappointed to hear that they cannot move the wedding date because they have to get her trousseau ready. They would not marry until the autumn. They are going through the family alphabetically and it’s going to take time.

He believes that he will be happy with May and he is unguarded whenever he meets Ellen. Had he been more self-aware, he might have been more cautious. The next day he rings the bell at 5:30 at a rental where she lives far away from her vagabond aunt. It is in the part of the city where lovers of the humanities try to find their way. The house’s exterior reflects what the count did to Ellen.

Ch. 9 Newland Archer is in a moment of pride goeth before the fall. He does love the image of May, what he imagines her to be, but he does not really know her. The reader sees that the innocence and purity may very well be the ice that he will not appreciate when they are married. She is the person society expects him to marry. He is more complicated than he thinks. He is drawn to fire because of his artistic nature.