In these last
chapters, Newland Archer makes his final decision to run away with Countess
Olenska and live the life that he’s been meaning to live. His actions and words
show increasingly more affection towards Ellen Olenska, even in front of his
wife, May, and the other families. May has become much more aware of his
feelings and has become somewhat frantic. For the first time, things seemed to
have been going his way. Newland Archer is able to talk himself out of the
so-called “business trip” that he had told May he was going on, even though he
was really meaning to see Ellen. In addition, the grandmother’s health
recovered enough for her to regain control and force the family to continue
giving Ellen her allowance. Ellen is then able to separate from her husband,
the Count Olenski, and return to Europe .
Unfortunately for Archer, he is not able to join Ellen, nor is he able to give
a final goodbye. He is forced to stay at home once May unveiled that she was in
fact, pregnant with his child. With everyone in the family, including May,
suspecting that he was having an affair with Ellen Olenska, Newland and May
decide to throw their first large party as a send off for Ellen. There, Newland
confirms his belief that everyone believes him to be unfaithful to May and he
watches as the families all regain their warm reception of Ellen. They treat
her with the utter most respect, and she is sent off with the blessing of the
high-class New York
society. With May being pregnant, that would have been Archer’s last chance to
be with Ellen. However, he chooses to stay married to May until the day she
dies. He has three children (2 boys and a girl), one of whom gets married to
one of Beauford’s “bastard children”. However when his eldest son takes him to
Europe and gives him the chance to meet with Ellen Olenska after all these
years, Archer simply walks away from the opportunity, stating that he was “too
old fashioned”.
Newland
Archer’s indecisiveness that continued until the last chapters of The Age of Innocence and his never
ending thoughts of regret reminded me a lot of the poem, “The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot. Like the speaker of the poem, Newland Archer
throws away an infinite amount of opportunities for him to see Countess Olenska
and get out of his “pretend” marriage with May. Instead of acting upon his
thoughts and desires, Archer often ponders and second-guesses his intentions
until the opportunity has passed. He keeps questioning his own happiness and
the shoes that the high-class New
York society expects him to fill, much like the
speaker in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, who keeps asking, “Is it
worth it?” The speaker also asks, “Do I
dare disturb the universe?” which is similar to the hesitation that Newland
Archer feels because of the society’s invisible rules that require a husband to
stay with his wife, remain discreet, and above all else, to not create any
disturbances. But society is not the only thing that holds Archer back. He is
also afraid of the truth and possibility. At the very end of the book, Archer
is given the chance to see Ellen Olenska; she had invited both him and his son,
indicating that she has not forgotten them or that she still holds affection
for him. However, Newland dismisses the opportunity and offer by telling his
son that he is “old fashioned” and walking back to his hotel. He is afraid that
Ellen Olenska might have changed, that he, himself might have changed, and that
their love might have faded away. And so he tells himself, “It’s more real to
me here, than if I went up”, signifying that he, like the speaker in “The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, would much rather dream and imagine the
possibilities than to claim them and take charge of his own destiny.
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