“That_Last_Shadow_of_Reality”__Archer's_Final_Reasoning_in_the_Age_of_Innocence

In the final scene of Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, which occurs twenty-six years after Ellen Olenska’s final departure from New York, Newland Archer is presented the chance to see Ellen, the woman who represents every aspiration and every regret of his youth, for the first time in three decades. Wharton explains that since Ellen had left New York, Archer had focused his life on his family, including his children, and on society. She also explains that May had died a few years ago and that Archer has continued to live his life without any other woman. In the scene, Archer and his first-born son, Dallas, travel to France, where Ellen lives. In Paris, Archer and Dallas go to Ellen’s apartment to visit her. Outside her home, Archer hesitates whether to see her. Sitting on a bench outside Ellen’s apartment, he decides what to do; after an unspecified amount of time of contemplating, Archer decides to leave without seeing her. (Wharton never adequately explains why Archer decides not to see Ellen; thus, much of this essay is speculation). Archer decides not to go to see her for reasons that partially contradict each other: his age has brought wisdom that helps him view Ellen more rationally, he has developed a lifestyle to which he is accustomed, one that Ellen would destroy, he regrets becoming whom he has become, Ellen’s rich European lifestyle intimidates him, he becomes understanding of his dilettante nature, and he chooses to uphold the ideal vision he had created of Ellen. In order to understand the dynamics behind Archer’s final judgment, the reader needs to be familiar with Archer’s conflicting inner desires between Ellen and May. Throughout the novel, Archer is torn between two women who are opposites that, to him, represent opposing values, which parallel his opposing desires: May, the woman whom Archer marries, is as Archer describes as “primitive and pure” (115), and she represents society and tradition. Ellen, whom Archer has a pseudo-affair with, is intelligent, independent, and experienced. To Archer, she represents independence from society and individualism. Archer wants both to be independent of society and to follow its tradition—which are mutually exclusive values. Since Archer wants both of these things through the novel, he constantly vacillates between May and Ellen despite his marriage. Even in the last scene of the novel, Archer expresses his desire for Ellen. By the final scene in Paris, Archer’s twenty-six years reflecting upon his situation with Ellen and May help lead him to choose not to see Ellen. He has become “a good citizen” (207), and he had been a “faithful husband” (208) through his devotion to society and to his family; and through this devotion, Archer has matured. In Paris, when thinking of rekindling his and Ellen’s relationship, Archer realizes, “For such summer dreams it was too late” (215). Archer understands that his chance to be with Ellen has passed, and from his maturity, he knows that he should leave the situation as it is. In the final chapter, before leaving for Paris, Archer contemplates about how he has missed “the flower of life,” and thinks of how “unattainable and improbable” (208) it is. To Archer the flower of life is perfect love, and the latter quotes illustrate that Archer knows that he had never—and will never—experience it. He had viewed his and Ellen’s love as ideal in his youth, but as a man of fifty-seven, he knows that he was incorrect. Cynthia Wolff, a Wharton critic, explains the change in Archer: “….his ordeal by love teaches him … [of] acceptance of reality” (422). With Ellen’s departure and Archer’s change of his life’s focus from his and Ellen’s affair to his family and to society (over the twenty-six year interval), Archer sees that he and Ellen were not ordained to be together. Archer’s realizations and sense of understanding that he has developed over the twenty-six years depict his newfound rational logic. From his realizations and logic, he hesitates whether to see Ellen, whom he still cares for, because he no longer sees his and Ellen’s love as perfect; consequently, he does not want to be with her as strongly as he had in his youth. Archer and May’s lengthy marriage does more than simply help Archer mature: it changes whom he becomes and helps him develop a sense of duty—each of which inhibits him from going to see Ellen in the last scene. In the final chapter, Wharton discusses Archer’s change in lifestyle: “Archer had found himself held fast by habit, by memories, by a sudden startled shrinking from things” (210). He has lost the passion for individualism and originality that he had held as a young man. Archer’s long marriage with a woman of “abysmal purity” (7) has suppressed his passions and changed his way of life. In Book Two, with Ellen still a factor in his life, Archer focuses his thoughts on her and his relationship with her. In the time after she leaves, he re-focuses his life on his family, on society, and on his duty to each of them. In the final scene, Wharton reflects: “Their long years together had shown him that it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it kept the dignity of a duty” (208). Duty to others is what Archer now stands for, though he still occasionally feels “eagerness of youth” (212). He has become more involved in politics and in the New York community—through his one-year position in the State Assembly and his New York “municipal work” (207)—and in his children’s lives. Archer, who is unwilling to change his lifestyle, prefers to maintain his duty to his family and to society, which must refer to any social responsibilities he has gained. Additionally, Archer has begun to see “good in the old ways” (208), which shows his strong nostalgia and his shift from independence of his aged society toward his tradition to it. Being reluctant to change his lifestyle and being loyal to his role in society both cause Archer to refrain from going to see Ellen—who could compromise whom he has become. Archer, in the final scene, makes note of regrets of his past, which eventually impede his going to see Ellen. (Wharton does not make clear to what regrets she refers, so much of the following is conjecture.) He regrets whom he has become, and what he did to lead to what he has become. In the final chapter, in Paris, Archer “felt shy, old-fashioned, inadequate: a mere gray speck of the man compared with the ruthless magnificent fellow he had dreamed of being…” (212). Archer had had such great youthful aspirations: of becoming a man of great knowledge, independence, and originality. He sees that he has become similar to everyone else, which is the exact opposite of his youthful desires. Emily Orlando, another Wharton critic, goes as far to say, “Newland Archer is a failed man.” (qtd. in Kozloff 7). Orlando writes that Archer is a “failed man” because Archer had wanted something, not become it, and regrets it. Archer has become a boring, safe, average man, whom is the antithesis of his youthful aspiration. Further contemplating his situation in Paris, Archer “had to deal all at once with the packed regrets and stifled memories of an inarticulate lifetime” (214). Archer’s “packed regrets” refer to every regret that has accumulated over the years that he may have “packed” away in his head without addressing—including, speeding up the engagement process against his feelings for Ellen, never truly being with Ellen, and being invariably indecisive between May and Ellen throughout the novel. Presumably, Archer wishes that he had done things differently, but it is too late. Archer, having the opportunity to see Ellen again, does not, partially because of his regrets: he feels ashamed of how he dealt with the situation between Ellen, May, and him and he does not want her to see whom he has become—a man whom he regrets turning into. Archer, having always admired European culture, is intimidated by Ellen’s European lifestyle, which also hampers Archer from going to see Ellen in the final scene. When in Paris, Archer thinks of the years that “had been spent [by Ellen] in this rich atmosphere….” Archer had not been Europe since his honeymoon, and Ellen had been there for almost thirty years; Archer fears that they must have changed from living in different atmospheres. Additionally, Archer envisions all the French culture Ellen must have experienced and absorbed—the theaters, the pictures, and the conversation (215). Archer, thinking of everything she had experienced that he had not, feels that he and she had diverged over the years, that they would no longer be able to communicate the same way, that she would be more culturally advanced than he. Archer, just being in Paris for a few hours, already has trouble breathing because the air feels “too dense and yet too stimulating for his lungs” (215). Here, Archer sees that he cannot keep up with European life, and from that fact, he knows that he can no longer keep up with Ellen. Knowing he cannot keep up with Ellen and knowing that their different lifestyles have turned them into different people both hinder Archer from seeing Ellen. Archer, through the years between the last two chapters and in the final scene, has developed an understanding of himself as a dilettante, which further leads him to abstain from seeing Ellen. In the first chapter, Wharton mentions Archer’s dilettantish qualities: “He was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realization” (4). Wharton takes the definition of “dilettante”—a lover of the arts—to another plane. She uses the word to imply a flaw in Archer’s character: that Archer appreciates the thought of things more than the act of them, signifying the fact that he is a dreamer. Archer’s dilettantish qualities can be applied throughout the novel: to Archer’s premarital visit to May in St. Augustine (88) when he strongly anticipates seeing her but loses interest in her once he is actually with her; to Archer’s final visit to Ellen before his marriage, in which he admits his love to her and asks her to divorce the Count, when she tells him, “‘I can’t love you unless I give you up’” (107); to the scene in which Archer picks up Ellen in Jersey City (171) after he has dreamt of seeing and being with her, when he acts immaturely and eventually leaves the carriage out of frustration; to the final scene (216) in which Archer chooses not to actuate to the experience of seeing Ellen; and to his and Ellen’s entire relationship in which they never truly act upon their love. Each of these scenes or situation depicts the fact that Archer is a dilettante, in that his experiences are less enjoyable than his thoughts of experiences. Both the scene in which he professes his love for Ellen and the final scene especially demonstrate Archer as a dilettante. When Ellen tells Archer she must give him up, she (most likely) shows her understanding of Archer as a dilettante: she knows he will be happier with the thought of her than he would be with her. Furthermore, the final scene shows how Archer has ultimately come to function with his dilettante qualities: his choice not to see Ellen exemplifies his consciousness of his dilettante qualities—he now knows that he enjoys Ellen more in his mind than he would by actually seeing her. Related to and (possibly) resulting from Archer’s dilettante nature, Archer has developed a perfect vision of Ellen that pervades the latter half of the novel. Ever since Archer had fallen in love with Ellen, he had begun to create an ideal vision of her. In Book Two, Wharton discusses Archer’s thoughts toward Ellen: “Since then [Ellen’s leaving] … he had built up within himself a kind of sanctuary in which she thronged among his secret thoughts and longings.” This sanctuary is where Archer dreams of Ellen as he sees her: as the perfect woman. Since Archer is immersed in daily life with May, he does not have much time for any “rational activities” or for thinking of Ellen. The thought of Ellen has become the ideal that Archer worships in this sanctuary, the ideal that becomes his “real life” (159). He views Ellen and the intellectual interests they share as his real life as opposed to his life with May. In this sanctuary of yearnings, Archer holds Ellen above all of his other wishes, illustrating his enshrinement of her. In the final chapter, Archer decides not to see Ellen for a variety of reasons; foremost of which is his realization that Ellen is not perfect and that he would rather maintain the false reality of his vision of her than compromise the vision by seeing her. Directly before Archer goes to Paris, Wharton states that Archer thinks of Ellen “as one might think of some imaginary beloved in a book or picture” (208). Wharton’s usage of the word “imaginary” hints that Archer has realized that his vision of Ellen was false, and the fact that Archer still looks at that vision shows he has chosen to continue appreciating his fantasy of her. His knowledge of the fact that his vision of Ellen is not true, coupled with his urge to preserve his delusion, leads him to make his final realization while he is sitting outside of Ellen’s apartment: “‘It’s more real to me here than if I went up,’ he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other.” Archer sees that if he would go inside to see Ellen, his mind would no longer be able to protect his vision of her, which he wants to maintain. Archer refers to reality, in this situation, as his unreality: the unreality of the delusion that he pretends to imagine as real. Archer views his vision of Ellen as the last part of his old life that still exists—his “last shadow of reality” (217)—something that he must protect. Archer is now more drawn to his past, and for that reason, he wants to preserve it (which, in this context, is his false vision of Ellen). Wanting to preserve this visualization of Ellen in order to appreciate his past, Archer hesitates in deciding whether to see Ellen through still sitting on the bench, instead of leaving or going to see her. Through examining the final scene of The Age of Innocence, the reader is able to see conflicting reasons for Archer’s final decision; some of which reflect Archer’s dichotomy—a vital characteristic of Archer that permeates the entire novel—between independence and society. Archer’s regret of whom he has become (showing his urge to be independent) is in direct conflict with his developed sense of habit and devotion to tradition (which depicts his loyalty to society), and his gained maturity and acceptance of reality (which exemplifies his devotion to society) contrasts his continual dreaming of Ellen (which shows his desire for independence). The reader will never know why Archer is torn between these two values, but knowing and seeing examples of Archer’s paradoxical nature, he can explore another aspect of the novel with less trouble, and he will have a better understanding of Archer’s character. Each of the reasons why Archer refrains from visiting Ellen, though some of them may disagree with each other, at least indirectly relates to the others. Archer’s developed wisdom facilitates his understanding of him being a dilettante. Both Archer’s intimidation of Ellen’s culture and his developed habits show his new loyalty to Old New York society. His choice to preserve a false reality and his regret of whom he has become both show his desire for his youth. All of these reasons collaborate to influence Archer not to see Ellen. When Archer is sitting on the bench outside of Ellen’s apartment, after he has had his realization that he wants to preserve a false reality, all the other weaker reasons influence Archer to decide not to see Ellen again. Works Cited Kozloff, Sarah. "Complicity in The Age of Innocence." Style 35.2 (Summer 2001): 270(21). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. DISCUS. 5 Dec. 2007  . Orlando, Emily J. "Rereading Wharton's 'PoorArcher': a Mr. 'Might-have-been' in The Age of Innocence." American Literary Realism 1870-1910 30.2 (Winter 1998): 56-77. Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence. Ed. Candace Waid. New York: Norton 2003. Wolff, Cynthia. “The Age of Innocence as a Bildungsroman.” Wharton 422.