A Deeper Nearness

“they seemed to have reached the kind of deeper nearness
that a touch may sunder" (166).

Points for Reflection

The Age of Innocence (1920), chps 15-24 (91-171)

1. how has the value and significance Newland attaches to May Welland’s innocence recently changed?
2. why does Newland wish to marry May Welland at the beginning of the novel, and have his reasons for wishing to hasten the wedding changed by the end of Book I?
3. Newland Archer notes, upon first visiting Ellen in her own home, that he cannot decipher her non-verbal cues (49).  Does he later succeed in reading her accurately, or does his understanding of her thoughts and emotions remain imperfect?
4. Newland Archer considers himself adept at reading others’ minds.  Does he tend to be accurate or inaccurate in assessing the mental movements of May and Ellen?
5. is Archer attracted more to the sexual purity of May, or the sexual experience of Ellen?
6. how do the following words, uttered by May earlier in the novel, gain new meaning in the final chapters of the novel? “You mustn’t think that a girl knows as little as her parents imagine” (105).
7. what clues has the narrative dropped that May is not as ignorant as Newland assumes?
8. Archer assumes, following six months of marriage, that he has obtained the key to deciphering May’s “dreamy silences” (141).  Does Book II support his claim?  Does he understand May better following their wedding than before it?
   
   
   
   Annabel Lee (c.1890)
   James Whistler
   

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu