“It was the old New York way…the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency about courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than ‘scenes,’ except the behavior of those who gave rise to them” (Wharton, Prologue). Because every time period has different beliefs and traditions, setting is vital to a novel. In The Luxe, the young and determined socialites’ lives are greatly affected by the setting. In this novel, teenage elites struggle to decide whether they should follow society’s rules or their hearts. One such example is when a socialite, Elizabeth Holland, falls in love with a coachman. Since her family is in debt, Elizabeth’s mother wants her to marry someone wealthy. However, instead of devoting herself to a life of unhappiness, she ran away to the West with her true love. In The Luxe, the setting tremendously affects the overall feeling and meaning of the text.
The implication and mood of The Luxe is conveyed through the location and place of the novel. This novel is situated in the midst of Manhattan in New York. This invitation ostentatiously states, “…at their new residence No. 670 Fifth Avenue in the City of New York” (Godbersen 9). From this quote, the reader could infer that the family who was inviting guests over was very wealthy. This prominent amount of wealth is publicized through the fact that they have a “new residence”. The family’s prosperity is also shown through the evidence that their new address is situated on Fifth Avenue. The audience would then realize, given they knew the background information, that Fifth Avenue is a very elite and high-end area to live. The setting also reflects the mood of the novel. As the author illustrates, “They crowded Broadway with...
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...by Anna Godbersen, is about high society teenage dilemmas concerning whether to follow society or their hearts. Most follow their hearts and live a contented life. The place, time period, and customs of The Luxe influence the connotation,disposition and general feeling of the narrative. The mood and significance is affected by the place and location, which is Manhattan, New York. The time period also affects the mood and overall feeling because there are certain rights and restrictions people couldn’t do then, as opposed to today. In addition to the time period and the location, the customs also greatly affect the setting because people don’t believe the same thoughts, ideas ,and are morally correct compared to know . Setting is fundamental for a novel’s meaning and overall feeling.
Works Cited
Godbersen, Anna. The Luxe. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007.
Setting expatiates the theme of loss of innocence. For example, the four major characters in this story are sixteen and seventeen years old, which is the age when teenagers prepare to end their childhood and become adults. Also, the Devon school, where the story takes place, is a place where boys make the transition to full adulthood, and so this setting shows more clearly the boys' own growth. Finally, World War II, which in 1942 is raging in Europe, forces these teenage boys to grow up fast; during their seventeenth year they must evaluate everything that the war means to them and decide whether to take an active ...
Throughout “Ethan Frome,” Edith Wharton renders the idea that freedom is just out of reach from the protagonist, Ethan Frome. The presence of a doomed love affair and an unforgiving love triangle forces Ethan to choose between his duty and his personal desire. Wharton’s use of archetypes in the novella emphasizes how Ethan will make choices that will ultimately lead to his downfall. In Edith Wharton’s, “Ethan Frome.” Ethan is wedged between his duty as a husband and his desire for happiness; however, rather than choosing one or the other, Ethan’s indecisiveness makes not only himself, but Mattie and Zeena miserable.
Many people oppose society due to the surroundings that they face and the obstacles that they encounter. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is the story of a poor, lonely man, his wife Zeena, and her cousin Mattie Silver. Ethan the protagonist in this novel, faces many challenges and fights to be with the one he really loves. Frome was trapped from the beginning ever since Mattie Silver came to live with him and his wife. He soon came to fall in love with her, and out of love with his own wife. He was basically trapped in the instances of his life, society’s affect on the relationship, love, poverty, illness, disability, and life.
Social pressures change as time passes, therefore it is interesting to see how these three texts whom differ by almost four hundred years perceive society and the effect this has on the protagonists; Shakespeare’s King Lear which was first performed in 1606 during the Jacobean era, presents a patriarchal society. Whilst, Arthur Miller uses the characters in ‘Death of a salesman’ to show the failure of the ‘American dream’ during the “golden era” of America in the late 40’s. The ‘American Dream’ was a set of ideals which suggested that anyone in the US could be successful through hard work, and had the potential to live a happy life. The sense of the deterioration in the equality of opportunities links to the fall in power and hierarchy in King Lear. Arudanthi Roy, however, uses her contemporary Indian novel to illustrate, using a proleptic and coalesce structure, the lives of the protagonists living in a post – colonial society. In each of these three texts there are characters who fit the stereotypes that society has instilled in them, but then there are those characters who noticeably differ from the norm; According to 19th century novelist Alfred de Musset “how glorious it is – and how painful – to be an exception.” Hence this statement can be seen as applicable to these characters, because in all three texts these characters do end up losing a lot.
reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society
The setting of a novel aids in the portrayal of the central theme of the work. Without a specific place and social environment, the characters are just there, with no reason behind any of their actions. The Age of Influence centers around the Old New York society during the 1870’s. Most of the characters are wealthy upper class citizens with a strict code to follow. The protagonist, Newland Archer, lives in a constant state of fear of being excluded from society for his actions. Archer’s character is affected by standard New York conventions as well as the pressure to uphold his place in society, both of which add to Wharton’s theme of dissatisfaction.
rich and noble and Prejudice were the issues of the time. This is a classical love story from the eighteenth
In her lifetime, Edith Wharton experienced the restraining nature of societal expectations against her attempts to establish her individual identity, in both her sexuality and publication of her written works. Wharton specifically has an excellent opportunity to criticize the expectations placed on American women during the Realist era because she emigrated to France and experienced a radically different system to that of America’s. This enabled her to more clearly contemplate how society limited and impacted the personal development of women without Wharton being restricted by her knowledge of solely the American social system. The struggle with societal expectations establishes itself in her novella Summer, in which Charity Royall faces the
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
Edith Wharton’s books are considered, by some, merely popular fiction of her time. But we must be careful not to equate popularity with the value of the fiction; i.e., we must not assume that if her books are popular, they are also primitive. Compared to the works of her contemporary and friend, Henry James, whose books may seem complex and sometimes bewildering; Wharton’s The Age of Innocence appears to be a simplistic, gossipy commentary of New York society during the last decade of the 19th century*. Instead, it is one man’s struggle with the questions of mortality and immortality. Wharton’s characters, settings and the minutiae of social rituals, manners, speech habits, dress and even flowers help her expose the mortal and immortal. But her adroit contrasts and comparisons with mythology elevate her fiction to the heights of sophistication.
... their positions and their stand in society. Material privileges and money distinguish the upper class people from the harder working lower class, and with this we can see how morals play an important role in their life. Arrogance and vanity control the lives of those with all the money, and modesty and inner happiness is what lower class people strive for. In Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier is able to glorify a phenomenon that takes the main character life from the bottom of the sea to a cruise ship sailing the seven seas. The narrator goes through the different social classes but keeps her own mind and morals; she is not over taken by all the riches and material privileges that come with such a life, but on the contrary, she remains true to her self and makes sure that the only thing that matters is the she and Maxim De Winter share and carry on with their lives.
Second, what is the mood of this story trying to portray with the setting. The setting c...
Within this extended essay, the subject chosen to study and formulate a question from was English Literature, in particular the portrayal of women during the 19th and 20th centuries, where the following novels 'The Great Gatsby' written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' were set in and originated the basis from. The question is as follows 'How does Jane Austen and F Scott Fitzgerald portray gender inequalities in both lower and upper class relationships particularly through love and marriage within the novels 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'The Great Gatsby' from the different era's it was written in?' This particular topic was chosen reflecting the morality and social class during the two different era's and determining whether there was change in the characteristics of women as well as men and how their behaviour was depicted through the two completely different stories, as they both reflect the same ethical principles in terms of love and marriage. The two novels were chosen in particular to view their differences as well as their similarities in terms of gender inequality through love and marriage, as the different era's it was set in gives a broader view in context about how society behaved and what each author was trying to portray through their different circumstances, bringing forward a similar message in both novels.
Jane Austen’s works are characterized by their classic portrayals of love among the gentry of England. Most of Austen’s novels use the lens of romance in order to provide social commentary through both realism and irony. Austen’s first published bookThe central conflicts in both of Jane Austen’s novels Emma and Persuasion are founded on the structure of class systems and the ensuing societal differences between the gentry and the proletariat. Although Emma and Persuasion were written only a year apart, Austen’s treatment of social class systems differs greatly between the two novels, thus allowing us to trace the development of her beliefs regarding the gentry and their role in society through the analysis of Austen’s differing treatment of class systems in the Emma and Persuasion. The society depicted in Emma is based on a far more rigid social structure than that of the naval society of Persuasion, which Austen embodies through her strikingly different female protagonists, Emma Woodhouse and Anne Eliot, and their respective conflicts. In her final novel, Persuasion, Austen explores the emerging idea of a meritocracy through her portrayal of the male protagonist, Captain Wentworth. The evolution from a traditional aristocracy-based society in Emma to that of a contemporary meritocracy-based society in Persuasion embodies Austen’s own development and illustrates her subversion of almost all the social attitudes and institutions that were central to her initial novels.
In Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” through strong characters she demonstrates how prejudice between social classes blinds the heart from falling in love. Austen’s flawless utilization of characterization and her ideas of society and class develop a timeless love story that invites the heart to become consumed with love. Each device that Austen uses paints a vivid picture in the readers mind and helps the plot of the story unfold. The characters that Austen uses each play a huge role in how the story will end and add suspense and interest while reading the entire novel.