《lecture-11-new-land-notes》.pdfVIP

The Age of Innocence O Brave New Land Chapters 31-34 LECTURE OVERVIEW Topic ‘The ending of the novel is one of hope and fulfilment for the protagonist and his world.’ How is this a helpful comment in your reading of The Age of Innocence? Methods - Narrative structure: 26 year gap between Ch 33 and Ch 34 - Motifs: Museum, flowers, technology, visions and realities - Characterisation: ‘New generation’ (Dallas and Fanny) introduced in Ch 34 - Perspective: Dallas recounts May’s words to Newland - Perspective: Archer’s flashbacks (on Leerts, May, Ellen) - Diction: Reflective, introspective mood (e.g. ‘regret’, ‘stifled memories’) Concerns - The novel as bildungsroman: Archer’s growth and maturation - Archer’s dilemma: the conflict between security and freedom - The social customs / traditions of Old New York - Modernity and progress: America’s growth from innocence to experience Literary Questions - Is a romantic ending the only possible type of ‘happy ending’ in a novel? - What does the title signify? Is it ironic? Is it an ‘age of innocence’ for New York, Newland or both? - How is May’s death essential to the thematic concerns of progress, experience and the individual? - Why does the writer portray a ‘new generation’ in the concluding chapter? - How eective or satisfactory do you find the ending of the novel? How might you change it? “O wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, / That has such people int.” Miranda, The Tempest, 5.1 Lecture 11 / Ch 31-34 1 NEW YORK STATE OF MIND Published in 1920, The Age of Innocence was born of a period of social, economic and moral upheaval that the world had never yet witnessed. Indeed, the First World War left Paris in tatters and in its wake, a br