... interests, and, again, a thematic strain that is carried through the body of Wharton's work concerns relationships in which one partner feels entrapped and restricted by the limitations of the other (Newland Archer and May Welland) Wharton wrote "The Age of Innocence" just after the First World War, but the novel depicts a society that is in many ways the "antithesis" of war-devastated Europe. "Old New York", Wharton's term to describe this wealthy and elite class at the top of the developing city's social hierarchy, was a society intent on maintaining its own rigid stability. To Wharton Old New York imposed in its members set rules and expectations for practically everything: manners, fashions, and behaviours. Those who broke the rules were punished by the other members. She was berated in her early work for exposing the secrets of old New York to the attentions of the general public and criticised her ...

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