CBBC Week Three: The Age of Innocence, Chapters 19-26

Past discussions:
Week One, chapters 1-10
Week Two, chapters 11-18

Welcome to Week Two of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) for The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. This week we'll be discussing chapters 19-26. 

There is an Internet archive of the novel and all page numbers I use in this post will be from that edition. 

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What happened in these chapters?

J's copy of the book!

May and Archer get married. 

The ring was on her hand, the Bishop's benediction had been given, the bridesmaids were a-poise to resume their place in the procession, and the organ was showing preliminary symptoms of breaking out into the Mendelssohn March, without which no newly-wedded couple had ever emerged upon New York. (page 186)

They go to Europe for their honeymoon. They meet a French tutor who Archer thinks is as interesting as Ned Winsett, but May thinks the tutor is common. He's looking for a job in New York, which even I know is foreshadowing. 

Flash forward a year later. The two are back to normal life, including going to Newport during the summer. Archer is bored. There are rumors that Beaufort is in financial trouble and may be near bankruptcy. May wins some weird archery tournament and they go visit Mrs. Mingott to tell her about May's success. Ellen is visiting Mrs. Mingott, but when Archer is sent to find her, he pretends he can't. 

Later on, the Wellands and May are occupied, so Archer heads to the Blenker house to see Ellen. Only the youngest Blenker girl is there because Ellen had been called to Boston. Archer lies to May that he has biz in Boston and finds Ellen quickly. Her husband had sent an emissary to try to bribe her to come back to him. 

"What were the conditions?"

"Oh, they were not onerous: just to sit at the head of his table now and then." (page 233)

Archer sees a face he can't place. Archer and Ellen spend a day together on a boat ride in "blessed silence" (page 239) and have lunch. 

By being so quiet, so unsurprised and so simple she had managed to brush away the conventions and make him feel that to seek to be alone was the natural thing for two old friends who had so much to say to each other...(page 240) 

Ellen cries because they can't be together, but promises him that she won't go back to Europe. I haven't said it yet this week, so here goes. Archer is a twat.

Back in New York, Archer sees the face he couldn't place in Boston. It was the French tutor, Riviere, from their honeymoon! What a coinkydink. He'd been sent by the count to get Ellen to come back, but Riviere thinks it's best if Ellen stays in the US. 

Oh, boy. Thanksgiving. Turns out that the family has been cutting off support to Ellen because they think she should go back to her husband. Archer had no idea. She's basically being supported by Beaufort and the rumors are his business is in trouble. Archer says he needs to go to Washington for biz, but May knows he's a liar liar pants on fire. 

"The change will do you good," she said simply, when he had finished; "and you must be sure to go and see Ellen," she added, looking him straight in the eyes with her cloudless smile, and speaking in the tone she might have employed in urging him not to neglect some irksome family duty.

It was the only word that passed between them on the subject; but in the code in which they had both been trained it meant: "Of course you understand that I know all that people have been saying about Ellen, and heartily sympathise with my family in their effort to get her to return to her husband. I also know that, for some reason you have not chosen to tell me, you have advised her against this course, which all the older men of the family, as well as our grandmother, agree in approving; and that it is owing to your encouragement that Ellen defies us all, and exposes herself to the kind of criticism of which Mr. Sillerton Jackson probably gave you, this evening, the hint that has made you so irritable. . .  Hints have indeed not been wanting; but since you appear unwilling to take them from others, I offer you this one myself, in the only form in which well-bred people of our kind can communicate unpleasant things to each other: by letting you understand that I know you mean to see Ellen when you are in Washington, and are perhaps going there expressly for that purpose; and that, since you are sure to see her, I wish you to do so with my full and explicit approval — and to take the opportunity of letting her know what the course of conduct you have encouraged her in is likely to lead to." (page 269)

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

tall hat and pearlgrey gloves (page 180)

a dark coil of hair under a hat (page 186)

limp Leghorn hat anchored to her head (page 208)

a wreath of ivy on her hat (page 211)

He found his hat and stick and went forth into the street. (page 231)

under her dark hat (page 232)

a long veil about her hat (page 239)

lifted his hat (page 249)

a wide flourish of his hat (page 250)

"No: but you can help — " M. Riviere paused, turned his hat about in his still carefully gloved hands (page 252)

M. Riviere again looked into his hat, as if considering whether these last words were not a sufficiently broad hint to put it on and be gone. (page 253)

 

Foxy shows off Jenny's library book. 

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Things I looked up:

monumental Britannia ware of their lodging house breakfast-table (page 192) - Britannia metal (also called britannium, Britannia ware, or Vickers White Metal) is a specific type of pewter alloy, favored for its silvery appearance and smooth surface. It was first produced in 1769 or 1770. After the development of electroplating with silver in 1846, Britannia metal was widely used as the base metal for silver-plated household goods and cutlery. The abbreviation EPBM on such items denotes "electroplated Britannia metal". Britannia metal was generally used as a cheaper alternative to electroplated nickel silver (EPNS), which is more durable. I could have read about this all day. 

Teapot, Britannia metal
Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

memoirs of the Baroness Bunsen (page 193) - Baroness Frances Waddington Bunsen (1791 –  1876) was a Welsh painter, author and diplomatic hostess, wife of Christian Charles Josias Bunsen, and the older sister of Lady Llanover. After her husband's death in 1860, she published a memoir of his life: A Memoir of Baron Bunsen, Drawn Chiefly from Family Papers, by His Widow, Frances, Baroness Bunsen (1868).

quant a soi (page 201) - a French expression referring to a reserved, distant, or aloof attitude, often characterized by a refusal to reveal one's true thoughts or feelings. It implies a sense of personal space, self-possession, or holding back. The common phrase is "rester sur son quant-à-soi" (to remain aloof/reserved). 

Leghorn hat (page 208) - a classic, durable straw hat made from the fine, bleached straw of a specific Italian wheat (Triticum vulgare), historically imported from Leghorn, Italy, since the 1700s.

expiatory (page 210) - serving to make amends for

chamfered (page 218) - beveled, grooved

dansant (page 221) - informal or small dance; tea dance

Saconnet (page 225) - The Sakonnet River is a tidal strait in the state of Rhode Island which flows approximately 14 miles (23 km) between Mount Hope Bay and Rhode Island Sound. (I think)

Cowes (page 234) - an English seaport town on the Isle of Wight

Baden (page 234) - a historical territory in southern Germany

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Lines of notes:

It was less trouble to conform with the tradition and treat May exactly as all his friends treated their wives than to try to put into practice the theories with which his untrammelled bachelorhood had dallied. There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free; and he had long since discovered that May's only use of the liberty she supposed herself to possess would be to lay it on the altar of her wifely adoration. (page 196)

"Newland never seems to look ahead," Mrs. Welland once ventured to complain to her daughter; and May answered serenely: "No; but you see it doesn't matter, because when there's nothing particular to do he reads a book." (page 222-223)

She had grown tired of what people called "society" ; New York was kind, it was almost oppressively hospitable; she should never forget the way in which it had welcomed her back; but after the first flush of novelty she had found herself, as she phrased it, too "different" to care for the things it cared about — and so she had decided to try Washington, where one was supposed to meet more varieties of people and of opinion. (page 241)

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Last week's homework:

Sarah sent along some photos of Mansion Hill in Madison, Wisconsin. Check it out!

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Questions to ponder:

1) What do you think of Newland's opinion of May and the way he thinks about her and describes her to himself?

2) Why did Newland pretend not to see Ellen after he hadn't seen her in a long time? Why is he a tool? Frankly, why is Ellen a tool? Why is everyone who isn't Mrs. Mingott a tool?

3) WHAT DID BEAUFORT DO? I'm honestly more interested in Beaufort at this point. What is causing his financial ruin and what do we think is going to be the outcome of this mess?

4) Is the French tutor just a plot contrivance for Wharton or do you think he's going to come back?

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Homework for you: 

Scavenger hunt! I want you all to pick a word that you're going to look for in next week's reading. I do this with the word "hat." Pick a common word and see how often it appears in the text - e.g., horse, lunch, tree, rug, etc. - and then report back next week. Bonus points if you tell us in the comments this week what your word will be. I, obviously, will be looking for the word hat.

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

Monday, February 23: Chapter 27-34
Monday, March 2: Wrap-up