Summary: The Age of Innocence

New­land Archer dis­cov­ers him­self immersed in joy fol­low­ing his com­mit­ment to the exquis­ite young May Welland. How­ev­er, his delight is soon dis­rupt­ed by the entrance of May’s rel­a­tive, Count­ess Ellen Olen­s­ka, just back to Amer­i­ca after depart­ing from her dis­loy­al spouse. With her bold attire, casu­al demeanor, and scan­dalous gos­sip encir­cling her, the Count­ess stirs waves of aston­ish­ment with­in New York’s elite cir­cle. Yet, owing to her influ­en­tial fam­i­ly led by the matri­arch, Mrs. Man­son Min­gott, May and Archer feel com­pelled to include her in their social cir­cle. While get­ting acquaint­ed with Ellen, Archer devel­ops an affec­tion for her uncon­ven­tion­al per­spec­tives on their soci­etal realm. Con­cur­rent­ly, his excite­ment for his intend­ed bride, May, dimin­ish­es as he sees her as a reflec­tion of her soci­etal upbring­ing: polite, inno­cent, and devoid of per­son­al con­vic­tion or iden­ti­ty. When the Count­ess pro­claims her inten­tion to divorce her spouse, Archer, though sup­port­ive of her quest for auton­o­my, feels oblig­ed to per­suade her to remain in her mar­i­tal bond for the sake of her fam­i­ly’s standing.

Dur­ing a retreat near Hud­son, Archer acknowl­edges to him­self his affec­tion for Ellen, prompt­ing an abrupt depar­ture to Flori­da where he recon­nects with May and her fam­i­ly. Once there, he endeav­ors to expe­dite their nup­tial arrange­ments. May grows sus­pi­cious, ques­tion­ing the urgency of his actions, pos­si­bly due to doubts about their union. To allay her con­cerns, Archer asserts his gen­uine love for her. Upon his return to New York, he con­fess­es his love to Ellen, only to receive a noti­fi­ca­tion from May, announc­ing the has­ten­ing of their wed­ding. After their mar­riage and a hon­ey­moon in Europe, Archer and May embark on their mar­ried life in New York. Over time, his rec­ol­lec­tions of Ellen evolve into a dis­tant, yearn­ing vision.

Nev­er­the­less, a for­tu­itous reunion with her in New­port rekin­dles his sen­ti­ments. She pledges to remain in Amer­i­ca as long as their love remains unpro­fessed. Back in New York, Archer dis­cov­ers that Count Olen­s­ki desires to reclaim Ellen, yet she rebuffs his advances. Fol­low­ing her grand­moth­er’s stroke, Ellen returns to New York to care for her. She and Archer plan to suc­cumb to their pas­sion, but abrupt­ly, Ellen opts to return to Europe. May, dis­clos­ing her preg­nan­cy, orga­nizes a farewell gath­er­ing for Ellen. Upon the guests’ depar­ture, she dis­clos­es to Archer that she informed Ellen of the news a fort­night ear­li­er. Fast for­ward twen­ty-five years, Archer and May have raised three chil­dren, and May has suc­cumbed to pneu­mo­nia. Archer’s son per­suades him to vis­it France, arrang­ing a meet­ing with Count­ess Olen­s­ka at her Parisian abode. How­ev­er, Archer, in the end, dis­patch­es his son to meet her solo, resolv­ing to cher­ish the rem­i­nis­cences of his past instead.

Volume 1

The nar­ra­tive com­mences in a new opera house, where New­land Archer, the head fig­ure, arrives tardi­ly to reunite with his acquain­tances. He notices his soon-to-be spouse May Welland, admir­ing her puri­ty and inno­cence. His rever­ie is inter­rupt­ed by Lar­ry Lef­ferts, draw­ing his focus to a stranger in May’s box. This lady, garbed in a strik­ing, reveal­ing attire, turns out to be Ellen Olen­s­ka, May’s cousin who has returned to New York post resid­ing abroad and report­ed­ly leav­ing her dis­loy­al hus­band. New­land com­mends Mrs. Man­son Min­gott, May’s grand­moth­er, for endors­ing the scan­dalous Ellen by allow­ing her to reside with her and even accom­pa­ny­ing her to the opera. Nev­er­the­less, New­land frets over the poten­tial scruti­ny their fam­i­ly might face due to Ellen’s pres­ence. Sens­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty, he joins the women dur­ing inter­mis­sion, sub­tly show­cas­ing his sol­i­dar­i­ty with them. Post-opera, a ball is host­ed at the Beau­forts’ abode where New­land and May pub­li­cize their engage­ment. May requests New­land to inform Ellen about their engage­ment, giv­en her absence from the ball. Sub­se­quent­ly, New­land and May pay a vis­it to Mrs. Min­gott. Dur­ing this vis­it, New­land observes a lack of dis­ap­proval from Mrs. Min­gott con­cern­ing Ellen being seen pub­licly with Julius Beau­fort, a mar­ried man, a fact he dis­ap­proves of. At a sup­per with his moth­er and sis­ter, New­land defends Ellen’s actions and express­es his desire for her to divorce her spouse. Alone lat­er, he rumi­nates over his impend­ing union with May, real­iz­ing her inno­cence is a prod­uct of naivety and his mar­riage might not unfold as envis­aged. Fol­low­ing this, the fam­i­ly is per­turbed when sev­er­al decline an invi­ta­tion to a din­ner in hon­or of Ellen. New­land implores his moth­er to approach influ­en­tial soci­etal fig­ures, the van der Luy­dens, to rec­ti­fy this per­ceived slight. New­land delves deep­er into Ellen’s past and her tumul­tuous mar­riage. He pays her a vis­it at her res­i­dence, where they delib­er­ate on his betrothal to May, cul­mi­nat­ing in her request for a sub­se­quent meet­ing. Despite Ellen’s bohemi­an and uncon­ven­tion­al view­points, New­land finds him­self mag­net­i­cal­ly drawn toward her. Sub­se­quent­ly, he impul­sive­ly dis­patch­es her with a bou­quet of yel­low ros­es. Lat­er, New­land endeav­ors to per­suade May to short­en their engage­ment but encoun­ters fail­ure. He com­pre­hends that May may be inca­pable of autonomous think­ing due to her shel­tered upbring­ing. The sce­nario exac­er­bates when word spreads of Ellen attend­ing a some­what scan­dalous soiree, com­pelling New­land to come to her defense. Upon even­tu­al­ly reunit­ing with Ellen, he dis­suades her from divorc­ing her spouse to cir­cum­vent scan­dal, despite his own sen­ti­ments for her. Fol­low­ing this, New­land abrupt­ly departs to ren­dezvous with May and her fam­i­ly in Flori­da, aban­don­ing unre­solved emo­tions and poten­tial­ly scan­dalous circumstances.

Volume 2

Vol­ume two unfolds with Archer enter­ing mat­ri­mo­ny, with thoughts of Ellen cloud­ing his mind. Post-wed­ding, May and Archer set off for their hon­ey­moon des­ti­na­tion, only to find them­selves redi­rect­ed to a quaint ances­tral cot­tage. Their hon­ey­moon pro­gress­es in Europe, unmask­ing May’s unease towards min­gling with Archer’s for­eign acquain­tances. Archer con­cedes to the futil­i­ty of attempt­ing to enlight­en his part­ner, rec­og­niz­ing that his intel­lec­tu­al pur­suits will remain detached from his domes­tic life. Dur­ing a din­ner gala in Lon­don, Archer is cap­ti­vat­ed by a French­man cham­pi­oning intel­lec­tu­al lib­er­ty, despite pover­ty. When he pro­pos­es invit­ing the French­man to din­ner with May, she dis­miss­es the notion, sig­nal­ing poten­tial dis­cord in their future. As their hon­ey­moon con­cludes, the duo set­tles into mar­ried life, with Ellen lin­ger­ing as a fleet­ing mem­o­ry. Archer’s encounter with Ellen at the sea­side cul­mi­nates incon­clu­sive­ly, sym­bol­iz­ing her tran­si­tion from his present to the past. Whar­ton por­trays the abrupt shift from vol­ume one to two as bewil­der­ing, liken­ing Archer’s inabil­i­ty to dic­tate wed­ding pro­ceed­ings to the inevitabil­i­ty of the cer­e­mo­ny. She sat­i­rizes soci­etal codes, expos­ing their absur­di­ty through the rigid pro­to­cols of the wed­ding. Resum­ing in New­port, Archer grap­ples with the banal­i­ty of mar­ried life. His vis­it to Ellen’s abode coin­cides with her depar­ture to Boston, prompt­ing Archer to pur­sue her there. In Boston, their dia­logues unveil their mutu­al yearn­ing and Ellen’s refusal to return to Europe on account of him. Her vow to abstain from her spouse or Europe as long as they refrain from act­ing on their emo­tions leaves Archer in a des­o­late state. May’s obliv­i­ous­ness to Archer’s poten­tial infi­deli­ty enables him to sus­tain a façade. Their return to New York aligns with a finan­cial col­lapse impact­ing their social cir­cle and Mrs. Min­got­t’s health cri­sis. When Ellen agrees to remain with Mrs. Min­gott, Archer per­ceives it as a sign of her affec­tion. Despite Ellen and Archer’s mutu­al con­sent, a sense of fore­bod­ing envelops Archer. Learn­ing of Ellen’s deci­sion to revis­it Europe shakes Archer to his core. May’s dis­clo­sure of her preg­nan­cy dawns on Archer, shat­ter­ing his visions of a life with Ellen. The sto­ry then cat­a­pults 25 years ahead, with a wid­owed Archer now a father. Opt­ing out of an oppor­tu­ni­ty to ren­dezvous with Ellen in Paris, Archer elects to pre­serve her essence in his memories.