Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five parts, namely background of the study, objective of the study, problem formulation, benefits of the study, and definition of terms. The background of the study contains the reason in choosing the novel The Age of Innocence as the subject of the study. The objectives of the study deal with the purposes of the study. In addition, there are three problem formulations to answer. The benefits of the study try to exemplify advantages to the readers. The last is the definition of terms which defines significant terms in this study.

A. Background of the Study

Nowadays women in a certain society are considered still as human beings that need protection and consolation from men. Therefore, women are not allowed to do ‘outside’ works. Women are supposed to stay at home and do household chores such as cooking, cleaning the house, and taking care of the children. Whereas, men do the ‘outside’ work to earn money for the family Swerdloff 9. As time goes by, many women think that they are considered to be second class citizens. Women begin to think that they deserve more than they have already had. They want to experience the world outside the home just like the men do. They want to speak in front of two sexes freely. Here, women have found such ways to speak out and show their aspirations. One of them is through writing. By writing, they express their thoughts, feelings, and aspirations about the life condition which they live. Historically in America in the 19 th century women’s voice and opinion were not simply heard. The fictional works written by women were largely excluded from the standard of literature. Woman writers were expected to write in the same standard of feminine propriety as they lived their lives, and as a result, women at that time could not express their feeling freely since there were many restrictions and boundaries for them to obey Bishop 49-50. However, many great women writers dared to break this rule to show their existence in voicing aspirations for women. Edith Wharton is one of the greatest women writers who focused her writings mainly on women. She included women as dominant characters in most of her works. Wharton’s central subjects are typically the conflicts between social and individual fulfillment, marriage, repressed sexuality, and the manners of old families. She wrote many novels, short stories, and poems. Wharton best novel is The Age of Innocence. This novel sets in the changing of the world of American’s post-Civil War era and reflects the conventions of ‘Old New York’ in New York 1870s society. The Age of Innocence is a story about a love triangle between a New York lawyer named Newland Archer, an unconventional Ellen Olenska, the wife of a Polish count and Archer’s fiancée, May Welland. Archer who is already engaged to May and works as a lawyer falls in love with Ellen Olenska when he helps her in defending her decision to divorce her husband. A divorce or a woman leaving her husband is considered unconventional and inappropriate. Therefore, when it happens, it results in disgrace upon the woman, in this case Ellen Olenska. The Age of Innocence is interesting to discuss and analyze since it reveals events that remain in the patriarchal and aristocratic society of old New York. This novel presents that the society where Ellen lives, ignores reality, pretends to act innocently, and decides who is socially acceptable to associate with, how to behave and who to marry according to the class structure. Women at this era cannot speak freely and think independently. As a patriarchal society, Ellen’s New York society has a concept concerning women called the concept of womanhood. This concept limits women’s attitude. According to this concept, it is believed that the standard of a good woman “starts as a virtuous, obedient daughter and ends as a submissive wife and nurturing mother” Gorsky 3. Women must have piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. This concept also arranges women in the marriage. The wife must act as “pure, charming, sympathetic, domestic, self - sacrificing, subservient, selfless creature” Gorsky 25. “With no legal existence separate from her husband, a woman could not sign contracts, own property, or sue for divorce, and had no rights over her children” 26. In Old New York, beside the basic patriarchal concept of womanhood, women also have to be pure and innocent, pretending not to know the occasional unpleasantness of reality. This is the concept of womanhood that Ellen is against. Ellen Olenska returns to New York to learn and to love the atmosphere of New York. She thinks she can feel safe and comfortable in the middle of her family and childhood friends. Ironically, her society judges “poor Ellen” as a “bad” woman only because she is different from the other women in the way of thinking, manners, and appearances. By seeing her family and the rest of society’s attitude towards her, she realizes that New York is not as “innocent” as it seems. Rather than suppressing her feelings and beliefs, she rebels against the society’s “innocent” masquerade. Based on the facts described above, it is interesting to find out how Ellen Olenska’s rebellion against the patriarchal concept of womanhood in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. By knowing Ellen Olenska’s rebellion against her society, a clear perceptive about the features of the society which is patriarchal society can be stated.

B. Problem Formulation