Old New York was Wharton's term to describe this wealthy and elite class at the top of
the developing city's social hierarchy, a society which was utterly intent on maintaining its
own rigid stability. Even though, the roles of women in American society changed drastically
from 1820’s to 1860’s due to the civil war and such a progression was due in part to the
revolutionary thoughts. Women started taking their right to speak up openly and frankly and
become more like men. The role of many women had changed from being homemaker to
being able to provide for the family by either getting a job or start to be allowed to have a
voice. They had important roles not only in helping the family, but in sharing to rebuild the
nation. As a whole, they helped to clean up the process of urbanization and immigration,
helping literature grow and helping change the ongoing problem of woman’s suffrage. Old
New York society to which Edith Wharton belonged did not give equality to women in legal,
economic, and sexual matters. The society considered woman supremely satisfying object of
masculine possession. Old New York imposed on its members set rules and expectations for
practically everything; manners, fashions, behaviors, and even conversations.
Edith Wharton focuses on female’s characters more than men in her novels. She tries
to show the sufferings of women and her society attitudes towards them, especially the
divorced women. Countess Ellen Olenska represents the major female character in The Age of
Innocence .She is considered a perfect example of women’s agony. Wharton presents Ellen
Olenska as the sophisticate, a woman who has been lived amid the aristocracy of Europe and
has seen the different world. Her style of dress and her manners are exotic to New York eyes,
especially in her interactions with men. Everything about Olenska signaled her foreignness.
She is delineated as the victim of old New York society. New York is again the center of
bizarre traditions and customs.
The matter of Divorce and leaving a husband is unacceptable in New York society.
Ellen wants to go home, to people who would accept her but she finds the society she is
heading to be not easily accessible and also is not willing to receive anyone from the outside
world. Ellen feels alienated and trapped when she returns to New York society. She wishes to
reclaim her freedom by divorcing her husband, but she is discouraged from this action
because all the people around her especially her family fear unpleasant gossip.
Ellen is not a mere character. She is a new heroine and representative because she
stands for all female characters who try to make changes in Old New society.