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

Mrs. vdL has the smile of Esther after her dinner with Xerxes. She sees it as a matter of honor and keeping control of society. At the opera that evening, Mr. Jackson tells all what it was. Newland’s buds in the club box give sly looks at Lawrence who makes a snarky remark.

His plan is two-fold. First, he will send his regrets his wife’s delicate health prevents them from dining and they would have been glad to have taken Lawrence’s spot. Second, Mrs. vdL’s relative has arrived from England. He’s a duke: the whole thing is dripping with important connections. They want to invite Ellen to a dinner they are hosting for him. They will send out invitations (cards) so word will get around.

His mother makes a blunder by wishing the vdL’s could go out more, but Newland saves the day with pointing out how they are the ones to dictate power. Mr. vdL states that prominent families need to back up each other. They see it as a slight to the Mingotts and themselves, especially because Ellen is a relation through Medora Manson’s first husband. The vdL’s stare at each other and read each other’s thoughts.

Newland is deceiving himself. He states that Lawrence is behind it all as a cover to prove to his wife that he’s not that bad. It’s almost like narrative misdirection here that he is attempting to do. The problem is that he is not looking at his own sin and it’s almost like he is trying to prevent attention from shifting to what he has done. He knows that the vdL’s will see it as Lawrence acting like a usurper.

She decides to pull the bell-rope to call her husband for she thinks he’s finished reading the newspaper and he will be interested in hearing their concerns. Mr. vdL opens the double doors, looking as faded as she does. They have small talk about the newspaper. She invites Mrs. Archer to retell the story and she emphasizes how the engagement makes it relevant to henry. Now there is silence.

Across from her ancestor is a portrait of herself, 20 years ago, wearing the black velvet and Venetian point (North and South--hello), she prefers to this day. She has aged so she is her own doppelganger. Her reclusive live has caused her to fade away rather than age. Her gentle sweetness stood in contrast with his feisty Archer/Newland aunts which he preferred. She and her dh seems to have merged in personality.

Ch. 7 Mrs. Archer narrates to Mrs. vdL what happened but it seems to be framed as an affront to Mrs. Mingott and to an affront to the rule of high society. Mrs. vdL is silent because she does not like to commit to anything unless she has talked to Mr. vdL. It’s unnerving. They sit in a high-ceiling drawing room with pale brocaded armchairs and a Gainsborough painting of a family member!

What’s important is that they divide their time between Maryland and an estate on the Hudson. They hardley ever open up their large home on Madison Avenue was seldom opened and, when in town, it’s only to see intimate acquaintances.

The social pyramid is slippery (like the presents in TCP). At the base are plain people and at the top is high society. Enough people have married into the top that eventually things will loosen up. The dynamic is not unlike Harry Potter in the situation between muggles and pure-blood wizards. His mother avows that Newlands, Archers, and Mingotts are not at the top and there is no such thing as New York aristocracy.