![]() Her telegram in Chapter 18 anticipates his temptation and closes the door on it. She sends Newland a letter from Florida reminding him of her kindness just as he is ready to fall for Ellen's charms. Her strategic actions throughout the novel show that she has learned well at her mother's side. Newland is kept on a short leash and it is a wonder that he is able to get away to meet Ellen. Always worrying about what her mother will think, May manages Newland's life she arranges every minute of his schedule at Newport, becoming the image of her mother after two years of marriage. In Florida, her mother voices narrow and snobbish attitudes that later parallel May's own comments about people she meets on her honeymoon. ![]() ![]() He sees too late that she outmaneuvers him at every turn and that she knows of his unhappiness. Wharton exercises considerable talent in showing May through the eyes of Newland Archer, whose vision of her is frozen in time like her photograph on his desk. She marries Newland and her slim intellectual abilities never vary, but her wisdom in manipulating Newland grows immensely. When she first appears, she is the personification of innocence. A perfect product of the social code, May Welland Archer begins the novel in ignorance and ends it in wisdom. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |