Tammy’s Reviews > The Age of Innocence > Status Update

Wait! It starts out in January (winter) and she is teasing him into recalling his childhood and questioning his innocence. Winter’s Tale reference?

He accuses her of being flippant (yes, I saw flipping the tables correctly). He gives her a stiff replay. Then she states that she is dead and buried and she is now in heaven. However, I think she’s again being flippant.

Ellen flips the tables here, going from stiff formal society to their informal childhood, a time of innocence. They played together as children and told him he kissed her once behind a door but she was crushing in his cousin. She sees everyone at the opera in knickerbockers and pantalettes (underwear). Is this her way of embarassing him to avoid feeling embarassed? He is shocked by her lack of respect.

His pride leads him to wanting to announce their engagement at the ball after the opera. May’s face grows rosy as the dawn (very Greek there). She isn’t sure about changing what was settled. Will this be the pattern of their marriage? He rushes in and she digs in? She gives him permission to tell Ellen and May moves her chair out of the way. Newland wants everyone to see him speaking with Ellen.

Gossip forces his hand and pushes him to act. He must be the first man to enter that box like a knight defending his lady’s honor. He hurries through red corridors (blood?) to support May in navigating this awkward situation. They seem to be in tune and read each others minds. Everything is formal in the introduction between the countess. He sits next to May and gives permission to share their understanding.

The men gossip about Ellen. She had married a brute and she ran away. He was handsome, but half-paralized. He collected women and china. The problem is not that she ran away, but that she ran away with his secretary. Ooops. She ran from the secretary after a few months. Lovell found her in Venice and took her home. They poke fun at her unhappy situation. One makes a snarky comment about May while looking at Newland.

She became a widow at age 28 and her husband had tied up his assets. It took time and, through sheer will, survived the poor years and got access to the money. She was no beauty so attracted nobody. She trained her tribe to face adversity with confidence. The women sat in that box, completely unruffled. Ellen stares at the stage and does not seem to be aware at how tasteless her appearance is to New York Society.

Mrs. Manson Mingott is really an upstart from Staten Island who got her status through marriage. She married off two daughters to foreigners. She built a cream colored house in a sea of sandstone and fill it with a fleet of old French furniture but offer a lousy table. She had so many lean years and when it comes to food she is thrifty.

He is angry his virgin is sullied when his dalliance with a married woman is no different. What a jerk! I missed that on the first dip. He thinks it’s fine of his future wife to be kind to his cousin in private, but not in public at the opera in the same box. He does not want her connected to the tittle tattle of his peers. He approved of family solidarity but he is concerned that Ellen will taint his future bride.

I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this book. I started it a few times, but I’ve never gotten far. I can’t believe how many more symbols I’m picking up on my own. Lit Life podcast for the win!

Ch. 2 Before, I felt a little sorry for Newland. No more. I had not noticed the red flags before. So after flirting and tempting a married woman, he’s embarassed that May sits with a married woman who fled her marriage.