Ellen Olenska as the Abject in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to define Ellen as the abject and explain how she was abjected from New York society with Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. To explain why New York society considered Ellen as the other, this paper first tries to define what the word, ‘innocence’ meant in New York in the 1870s and then relate its meanings to other-ness and abjection. To New York where truth, personal opinions, imagination and difference were not allowed, Ellen Olenska returned from Europe seeking divorce and freedom from her unfaithful husband. She ignored the tradition, violated social codes, talked about the unpleasant truth, and associated with artists. She was the other which disturbed the system, order, and identity of New York society in the 1870s. Ellen as the other was about to endanger the social order which was based on marriages between families by way of becoming lovers with Newland Archer. He was in love with Ellen and planned to leave his wife, May who has pretended not to know about their passionate love. May told Ellen that she was pregnant even before it was certain in order to force Ellen to leave New York. At the farewell dinner party at May’s house, it became evident that the party was a rite of excluding the abject who disturbed the order. This process of exclusion of what disturbed the identity is abjection, and the isolated and excluded other is the abject. (Kyunghee University)