EDITH WHARTON’IN MASUMİYET ÇAĞI BAŞLIKLI ESERİNDE ELLEN OLENSKA’NIN ESKİ NEW YORK’TAN SESSİZ SÜRGÜNÜ

Abstract

Pulitzer ödüllü romanı Masumiyet Çağı (1920/1999) başlıklı eserinde Amerikalı romancı Edith Wharton toplumsal norm ve kuralların, eski New York'taki bireylerin yaşamlarını nasıl yönettiğini, sınırlar çizdiğini ve onları bu sınırlar içinde yaşamaya zorladığını anlatır. Bu sosyal ortamda, romanın kahramanı, sanat meraklısı bekar Newland Archer, seçkin bir toplumun üyesi olan güzel May Welland ile nişanlı, zeki ancak geleneksel bir genç adam olarak sunulur. Bu toplumun eski bir üyesi olan Ellen Olenska, yabancı kocasından ayrıldıktan sonra New York'a döndüğünde, ailesi itibarını arkasından dönen dedikodulardan korumak için etrafında toplanır. Ancak alışılmadık, yabancı yaşam tarzı ve Archer ile sözde romantik ilişkisi, toplumdaki yeni kazandığı yerini daha da tehlikeye atar. En sonunda, Ellen Olenska, New York toplumunda tatmin edici bir yaşam sürmesini imkansız kılan geleneksel tabuları açıkça kabul ettiğinde kendisini baskıcı üst sınıfın sosyal çevresinden kurtarmak için Archer ve New York’u tamamen terk etmeyi seçer. Bu makalenin amacı, Ellen Olenska'nın toplumdan dışlanmış bir birey muamelesi görmesinin ve sessizce Eski New York toplumundan sürgün edilmesinin nedenlerini araştırmaktır. Bunu yaparak, bu çalışma, Amerika’daki kadınların geleceğini gösteren, Ellen için gerçek kurtuluşun tek yolunun ataerkil toplumdan sürgün edilmesi olduğu sonucuna varmaktadır.

Keywords

• Masumiyet Çağı
• Eski New York
• Sessizlik Kuralı
• Sosyal Dışlanmışlar
• Ellen Olenska

ELLEN OLENSKA’S SILENT BANISHMENT FROM OLD NEW YORK IN EDITH WHARTON’S THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

Abstract

In her Pulitzer-winning novel, The Age of Innocence (1920/1999), the American novelist Edith Wharton portrays how societal norms and codes rule the lives of individuals in Old New York, creating boundaries and forcing them to act within them. In this social environment, the novel’s protagonist, the dilettante bachelor Newland Archer, is presented as an intelligent yet conventional young man engaged to beautiful May Welland, a member of elite society. When Ellen Olenska, a former member of their circle, returns to New York after separating from her foreign husband, her family rallies around her to safeguard her reputation from the rumors circulating behind her back. However, her unorthodox, foreign lifestyle, as well as her alleged romantic entanglement with Archer, further jeopardize her newly gained place in society. At the end, when Ellen Olenska clearly recognizes the conventional taboos that make it impossible for her to lead a life of fulfillment in New York society, she chooses to leave Archer and New York for good to free herself from the oppressive upper-class social surroundings. The aim of this paper is to investigate the reasons why Ellen Olenska is treated as an outcast and is silently cast away from Old New York society. By doing so, this study concludes that her banishment/exile from patriarchal society serves as the only way for true liberation indicating the future of women in America.

Keywords

• The Age of Innocence
• Old New York
• Code of Silence
• Social Outcasts
• Ellen Olenska

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