Social Constructs: Then and Now

Luckily enough, today in class we did reach a conclusion on Newland’s most tragic flaw. In fact, we pointed out quite a few. One of his first ones was hypocrisy. When helping Ellen Olenska decide whether or not to return to her husband, Newland encouraged her to stay separated. In the eyes of society, this was considered largely unorthodox. Ironically, what he urged Ellen to do was exactly what he couldn’t. Which brings us to his next flaw: Newland Archer was a coward. Controlled by society’s expectations, he was afraid to “break the rules” and be with someone he truly loved. But at the end of the day, the only thing that was really holding himself back was himself. As seen in the final pages of the novel, The Age of Innocence, Newland had always carried his perfect vision of reality within his mind. When he finally had the chance to see Ellen long after May’s death, he decided it was better off to leave his vision of her untouched by not going up to her room. We also discussed other scenes from the novel such as the wedding, farewell dinner, and the opening scene at the opera. Syntax, sentence structure, tone, and descriptive imagery were all used to determine the narrator’s attitude towards a certain scene. In the opera scene in particular, we talked about the unspoken rules that we still have today. And like it did then, more often than not we continue to let what is expected of us dictate the way we live. So... how do YOU go about resisting social expectations of our time? Or if you don't, explain why it's easier to resign to those expectations rather than challenge them. Feel free to comment below. If not, that's fine as well. :)