论文部分内容阅读
中图分类号：G641 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1672-8882（2014）11-173-01
In The Age of Innocence，the American women’s taboos at that time are chiefly presented through the description of lives of female characteristics and the other people’s comments and reaction toward their behaviors. From the novel，it is known that in the upper New York society in the late 1870s to 1900s，women have certain social status，but there are still a lot of taboos fixed for them，and breaking the taboos might be disastrous.
Firstly，it is believed that when a women and a man get engaged，there should be at least one and a half year or two years before their wedding ceremony. In fact，this taboo does not only aim that the name of both families can be well reserved，it is especially designed for unmarried women，on the one hand，to emphasis their social status，and on the other，to show that their obedience to the social conventions. That is why even though Newland Archer asks May Welland so many times to hold the wedding earlier，May never follows his will. When Archer complaints that the engagement is too long，May replies to him，“If you call it long！ Chivers and Reggie were engaged for two years：Grace and Thorley for nearly a year and a half. Why aren’t we very well off as we are？”（Wharton，2007：72）
Secondly，although unmarried women are free to take part in all kinds of social activities，the situation changes when they get married. They are supposed to be good companions of their husbands，and to behave in favor of both their own families as well as their husbands’. They are not allowed to come back home without the permission of both families. And even when the hosts of the family dies or does not care about them any more，they should also show to the neighbors that they are good wives. This means that in New York at that time，once a woman gets married，she becomes an accessory of her husband，and she has to hide her own feelings deep in her heart even though she is unsatisfied with her marriage，otherwise she will be looked down upon by others. What’s more，it is never possible for her to get a chance to divorce，because it is regarded as ridiculous and it will totally ruin the name and honor of the family. This is why when Ellen Olenska comes back to New York to try to get divorced and free herself from the miserable marriage，she is immediately regarded as a strange and unwelcomed creature，and almost everyone in the society are eager to think about how to drive her away and let her give up all her efforts to get a divorce. The fact is that when Ellen first appears in the Opera，she becomes a hot topic for criticism. Just as what Sillerton Jackson says simply after giving his moustache a thoughtful twist，“I didn’t think the Mingotts would have tried it on”. （Wharton，2007：710）
From the above analysis，it can be conclude that according to Wharton’s description，the American society in that age does have many taboos and rules for women to keep in mind，aiming at maintaining their social status as well as presenting the family name and honor.
參考文献：
[1] Wharton，Edith. The Age of Innocence. Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2007
In The Age of Innocence，the American women’s taboos at that time are chiefly presented through the description of lives of female characteristics and the other people’s comments and reaction toward their behaviors. From the novel，it is known that in the upper New York society in the late 1870s to 1900s，women have certain social status，but there are still a lot of taboos fixed for them，and breaking the taboos might be disastrous.
Firstly，it is believed that when a women and a man get engaged，there should be at least one and a half year or two years before their wedding ceremony. In fact，this taboo does not only aim that the name of both families can be well reserved，it is especially designed for unmarried women，on the one hand，to emphasis their social status，and on the other，to show that their obedience to the social conventions. That is why even though Newland Archer asks May Welland so many times to hold the wedding earlier，May never follows his will. When Archer complaints that the engagement is too long，May replies to him，“If you call it long！ Chivers and Reggie were engaged for two years：Grace and Thorley for nearly a year and a half. Why aren’t we very well off as we are？”（Wharton，2007：72）
Secondly，although unmarried women are free to take part in all kinds of social activities，the situation changes when they get married. They are supposed to be good companions of their husbands，and to behave in favor of both their own families as well as their husbands’. They are not allowed to come back home without the permission of both families. And even when the hosts of the family dies or does not care about them any more，they should also show to the neighbors that they are good wives. This means that in New York at that time，once a woman gets married，she becomes an accessory of her husband，and she has to hide her own feelings deep in her heart even though she is unsatisfied with her marriage，otherwise she will be looked down upon by others. What’s more，it is never possible for her to get a chance to divorce，because it is regarded as ridiculous and it will totally ruin the name and honor of the family. This is why when Ellen Olenska comes back to New York to try to get divorced and free herself from the miserable marriage，she is immediately regarded as a strange and unwelcomed creature，and almost everyone in the society are eager to think about how to drive her away and let her give up all her efforts to get a divorce. The fact is that when Ellen first appears in the Opera，she becomes a hot topic for criticism. Just as what Sillerton Jackson says simply after giving his moustache a thoughtful twist，“I didn’t think the Mingotts would have tried it on”. （Wharton，2007：710）
From the above analysis，it can be conclude that according to Wharton’s description，the American society in that age does have many taboos and rules for women to keep in mind，aiming at maintaining their social status as well as presenting the family name and honor.
參考文献：
[1] Wharton，Edith. The Age of Innocence. Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2007