ipl-logo

The Role Of Women In The Age Of Innocence By Edith Wharton

844 Words4 Pages

Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Price-winning novel The Age of Innocence, published in 1920, is set in 1870s New York. The era, also known as the Gilded Age, was a time of great economic growth, especially in the North and West, while the South still faced repercussions of the Civil War. In this essay, I will mainly focus on the position of women in the society and how the society established its control over them. (Whitin this broad context)?? The American Civil war ended in 1865 with the abolishment of slavery. While the agricultural South lost, the winning side underwent industrialization and urbanization. The progress mainly depended on transcontinental railroad, natural resources such as iron, stream and electricity, and later on technology, …show more content…

Moreover, despite general economic growth, there were periods of crises and the progress was also accompanied with harsh living and working conditions and unemployment. This resulted in the founding of corporations, which could control both the production and the market, as businessmen feared overproduction would lead to deflation (declining prices and falling profits). Over time, larger corporations developed through mergers. The leading corporations were Rockefeller’s The Standard Oil Company in oil and Carnegie’s in steel, whose economic and political power influenced the whole economy. The corporations was influenced by “Social Darwinism”, a system where the growth of large businesses merely signified a survival of the fittest. In the system of aforementioned crises (1837, 1857, 1873) only the rich were secure and the small, less powerful businesses were destroyed, bringing about poverty for working people, “while the fortunes of the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Morgans, kept growing […]” (Zinn 2005, …show more content…

Much like in Victorian England, women had certain expectations to meet to make them acceptable and respectful citizens. The main goal in a woman’s life was to make her marry a respectable gentleman, whom she would take care of, bear children to in exchange for her protection. Their position in the household was to aspire to be an ideal woman, the so-called ‘Angel in the House”: she was to be devoted and submissive to her husband, passive, powerless, meek, charming, graceful, selfless and self-sacrificing, chaste and pure; this point I will present with the help of Edith Wharton’s novel, which illustrates this point splendidly through the characters of May Welland and Ellen

Show More
Related

  • How Did The Civil War Influence The Development Of Big Business

    575 Words  | 3 Pages

    After the Civil War, the United States had two distinct economies, which is quite significant. The Southern economy was completely damaged by the results of the Civil War. Southerners were forced to readjust their entire economy, because slaves needed to be liberated, leaving slave-owners with no workforce. Meanwhile, in the North, the need to supply Union armies with particularly daily supplies marked the start of an era of industrial development. Which giant corporations essentially emerged known as Big Business.

    Read More

  • Apush Dbq Industrialization

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the period of industrialization, between 1865 and the early 1900’s, corporate

    Read More

  • Post Civil War Dbq

    1017 Words  | 5 Pages

    To say the time period following the Civil War in the United States involved a lot of change would be a understatement. Between the years 1870 and 1900 the people of the United States lived through a period of great change. Not only did they witness technological advances that would change their daily lives, they also saw new laws and organizations formed. All of this was done in hopes of improving the country. Many of these changes came about because of the type of businesses that were formed.

    Read More

  • The Struggle In Mary Freeman's The Revolt Of Mother

    676 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 19th century, women were overshadowed by the men of their household, therefore they had no sense of independence nor dominance. In Mary Freeman’s short story, “The Revolt of Mother,” the author presents Sarah Penn, a woman who takes a stand against her husband. In the beginning, the reader learns that Sarah is a hardworking mother and wife. She maintains the household work and meets her children needs. She is suddenly confused of her husband’s actions concerning their future.

    Read More

  • Women In The Civil War Essay

    1200 Words  | 5 Pages

    Important Women and their Role in the Civil War The American Civil war lasted for four years from 1861-1865. The war occurred because of a controversy on differences of beliefs, with the primary reason being slavery and state’s rights. The war resulted in the killing of over 600,000 soldiers. The war had a lot of advances in American culture.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The House Of Mirth, By Edith Wharton

    334 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women’s Role’s Edith Wharton born in 1862 became a world known writer. Focusing mainly on class structure and women’s roles, Wharton portrayed to the world the lives of people during the 20th century. Gender inequality, as well as moral and ethical dilemma was a prominent issue not only in society but, became evident throughout Wharton’s writing. Determined to share her experiences with the world Wharton disguised moral and economic situations in literature that allowed readers to connect mentally. During an era where social class and wealth defined a person’s entity, Wharton seemed to focus mainly on the higher class structure.

    Read More

  • Social Change And Economic Growth In The Gilded Age

    454 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Gilded Age america’s industry economy exploded generating opportunities for individuals but also leaving many farmers and workers struggling. Industrial leaders such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller revolutionized business and ushered in the modern corporate economy, but

    Read More

  • Robber Barons Dbq

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    The late 19th century was full of growth, production, and business. People were craving power and seemed to achieve this through any means necessary. Consequently, a new business elite formed consisting of the richest men alive. The way in which these individuals acquired all their profits is something very contradictory even over one-hundred years later. Some historians characterize these businessmen as “robber barons” who used extreme methods to control and concentrate wealth and power, and being supported by multiple sources, this statement is justified but only to some extent.

    Read More

  • Failure Of Reconstruction Essay

    1136 Words  | 5 Pages

    The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life.

    Read More

  • Big Business Dbq

    939 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thesis : After the Civil War, America was in a post-war boom. During the 1870-1890, big business moguls, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, create huge corporations which not only affected the economy, but also affected the political realm of America. While many may assume that during the rise of these big business helped to change the economy and politics,  the real focus was on the responses formed by society, such as labor unions, increase public outcry, and political opposition groups that helped to change society. A: Economically, big business flourished during the late 1800s.

    Read More

  • Explain How Big Businesses Controlled The Economy And Politics Throughout 1870-1900

    170 Words  | 1 Pages

    Justin Clement APUS DBQ Big businesses controlled the economy and politics throughout 1870-1900. They were in control of the prices for certain items because they destroyed their smaller competitors until there was no competition left. They had much sway over politics and took away the people’s say. As we can see from Document A, between 1870-1899, the price for food, fuel, lighting and living decreased with the emergence of big businesses.

    Read More

  • Large Corporations 1870 To 1900

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    The economy was consistent in the United States during the 1870’s but as the years went on large businesses were able to lower the cost of food prices, fuel and lighting

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Gilded And Progressive Era

    1478 Words  | 6 Pages

    Big businesses boomed during this era, however, in business owners efforts to produce more money the working class suffered from unfair wages and working conditions. In Nash’s findings, he reported, “In 1890, the top 1 percent of American families possessed over a quarter of the wealth, and the top 10 percent of American families possessed over a quarter of the wealth, … But wages for the unskilled increased by only 31 percent- a substantial differential that widened as the century drew to a close” (407). Through the economic disparities between classes, it caused unworkable working conditions and unsanitary living conditions. Unskilled workers were often responsible for hard labor jobs, many men worked in coal mines, factories, farms and more. Despite these harsh working conditions workers received minimal wages, resorting themselves and their families to live in tenement houses, crowded, unclean, and disease-ridden housing units. This was the price of class inequality, poverty, unclean working conditions, and backbreaking work all for minimal pay so big businesses could make a

    Read More

  • The Cult Of True Womanhood Analysis

    2199 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Cult of True Womanhood in “The Yellow Wallpaper” In her essay “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860”, Barbara Welter discusses the expected roles and characteristics that women were supposed to exhibit in accordance with the extreme patriarchy of the nineteenth-century America. The unnamed narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is seen to conform and ultimately suffer from this patriarchal construct that Welter labels the Cult of True Womanhood. The narrator falls victim to this life of captivity by exhibiting several of the fundamental characteristics that Welter claims define what a woman was told she ought to be.

    Read More

  • Othering In Edith Wharton's The Age Of Innocence

    3463 Words  | 14 Pages

    As a text seemingly disparate from Edith Wharton’s other novels, scholarship surrounding Summer has tended to focus on gender and power constructions between Mr. Royall and Charity Royall. Recent scholarship, however, has focused on the social and cultural aspects of Summer. Elizabeth Ammons has taken a stark stance, problematizing Wharton’s portrayals of race by reifying normative racial constructions of the early twentieth century (68). Anne MacMaster notes the centrality of racial representations, though they appear to be marginal concerns to the plotline, in Wharton’s other work, The Age of Innocence.

    Read More

More about The Role Of Women In The Age Of Innocence By Edith Wharton

Open Document