纯真年代英语读后感

The age of innocence

I had already seen the film The age of innocence before ,it really impressed me a lot about the triangle love .At that time ,I thought it was difficult for me to choose from May and Ellen . A few days ago , I found the book in the library ,I was so excited and I didn’t even have any hesitate to borrow it to get deeply into it and I had the answer of the “real heroine ”of the story .It is a novel by Edith Wharton ,which won the Pulitzer Prize –the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman . The story occurs among the New York City’s upper class in the 1870s .At that time ,being was better than doing ,occupation and abilities were secondary to blood connections , reputation and appearance exuded everything and everyone not of one’s caste .

The major characters of the story are : Newland Archer: The story's protagonist is a young, popular, successful lawyer living with his mother and sister in an elegant New York City house. Since childhood, his life has been shaped by the customs and expectations of upper class New York City society. At story's start, he is proud and content to dream about a traditional marriage in which he will be the husband-teacher and she the wife-student. His life changes when he meets Ellen. He begins questioning the values on which he was raised. He sees the sexual inequality of New York society and the shallowness of its customs, and struggles to balance social commitment to May with love for Ellen. In the end, though, Newland Archer finds that the only place for their love is in his memories.

May Welland : the fiancé of Newland .She follows and obeys all of society's customs perfectly. Mostly, she is the shallow, uninterested and uninteresting young woman that New York society requires. She offers him release from their engagement so he can marry the woman he truly loves. When he assures May of his loving only her, May appears to trust him, at least at first. Yet after marriage, she suspects Newland is Ellen's lover. May pretends to be happy before society. Her unhappiness activates her manipulative nature, and Newland does not see it until too late. To drive Ellen away from him, May tells Ellen of her pregnancy before she is certain of it. Yet, there still is compassion in May, even in their loveless marriage's long years after Ellen's leaving. After May's death, Newland learns she had always known of his continued love for Ellen; as May lay dying, she told their son that the children could always trust their father Newland, because he surrendered the thing most meaningful to him out of loyalty to their marriage.

Ellen Olenska: the cousin of May . When the story begins, Ellen has fled her unhappy marriage, lived in Venice with her husband's secretary, and