The tone of The Age of Innocence moves between ironic and earnest as Archer shifts from being a detached observer of his rule-oriented society to a man deeply feeling the effects of society’s restrictive rules (after he falls in love with Ellen and can’t be with her). The following passage captures the ironic tone present at the beginning of the novel, as Archer analyzes the social dynamics of New York society in Chapter 6:
In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs; as when Mrs. Welland, who knew exactly why Archer had pressed her to announce her daughter’s engagement at the Beaufort ball (and had indeed expected him to do no less), yet felt obliged to simulate reluctance, and the air of having had her hand forced, quite as, in the books on Primitive Man that people of advanced culture were beginning to read, the savage bride is dragged with shrieks from her parents’ tent.
Here Archer sarcastically compares New York to a primitive society—May’s mother Mrs. Welland acts as if she “had her hand forced” in letting May become engaged to Archer the way that a prehistoric "savage bride" would “shriek” when “dragged” from her parents' home. This comparison is clearly an ironic exaggeration on Archer's part. Additionally, the way in which he views this “hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs” is almost the way an anthropologist would dispassionately view a society. Archer is part of this society, of course, and going along with its rules, but demonstrates no emotional reaction to his complicity.
This detached tone shifts into a much more passionate and emotional one after Archer meets the free-willed Ellen and falls in love with her. Suddenly he is not smirking at the rules of society but bemoaning them because they keep him from being with the woman he loves. This comes across in Chapter 18, in Archer’s reaction to Ellen refusing to have an affair with him because it would go against the rules:
He turned away with a sense of utter weariness. He felt as though he had been struggling for hours up the face of a steep precipice, and now, just as he had fought his way to the top, his hold had given way and he was pitching down headlong into darkness.
Here the tone shifts into a “weary” one. Archer is no longer laughing at society’s norms but “struggling […] up the face of a steep precipice” as he tries to convince Ellen to flaunt the rules with him. Her refusal leaves him tired and hopeless, earnestly feeling as if “he was pitching down headlong into darkness.” This beleaguered and earnest tone helps readers to understand the depth of Archer’s love for Ellen and his emotional development over the course of the story.
The tone of The Age of Innocence moves between ironic and earnest as Archer shifts from being a detached observer of his rule-oriented society to a man deeply feeling the effects of society’s restrictive rules (after he falls in love with Ellen and can’t be with her). The following passage captures the ironic tone present at the beginning of the novel, as Archer analyzes the social dynamics of New York society in Chapter 6:
In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs; as when Mrs. Welland, who knew exactly why Archer had pressed her to announce her daughter’s engagement at the Beaufort ball (and had indeed expected him to do no less), yet felt obliged to simulate reluctance, and the air of having had her hand forced, quite as, in the books on Primitive Man that people of advanced culture were beginning to read, the savage bride is dragged with shrieks from her parents’ tent.
Here Archer sarcastically compares New York to a primitive society—May’s mother Mrs. Welland acts as if she “had her hand forced” in letting May become engaged to Archer the way that a prehistoric "savage bride" would “shriek” when “dragged” from her parents' home. This comparison is clearly an ironic exaggeration on Archer's part. Additionally, the way in which he views this “hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs” is almost the way an anthropologist would dispassionately view a society. Archer is part of this society, of course, and going along with its rules, but demonstrates no emotional reaction to his complicity.
This detached tone shifts into a much more passionate and emotional one after Archer meets the free-willed Ellen and falls in love with her. Suddenly he is not smirking at the rules of society but bemoaning them because they keep him from being with the woman he loves. This comes across in Chapter 18, in Archer’s reaction to Ellen refusing to have an affair with him because it would go against the rules:
He turned away with a sense of utter weariness. He felt as though he had been struggling for hours up the face of a steep precipice, and now, just as he had fought his way to the top, his hold had given way and he was pitching down headlong into darkness.
Here the tone shifts into a “weary” one. Archer is no longer laughing at society’s norms but “struggling […] up the face of a steep precipice” as he tries to convince Ellen to flaunt the rules with him. Her refusal leaves him tired and hopeless, earnestly feeling as if “he was pitching down headlong into darkness.” This beleaguered and earnest tone helps readers to understand the depth of Archer’s love for Ellen and his emotional development over the course of the story.
