“He had married (as most young men did) because he had met a perfectly charming girl at the moment when a series of rather aimless sentimental adventures were ending in premature disgust; and she had represented peace, stability, comradeship, and the steadying sense of an inescapable duty.”
― Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
After my previous post on an illusion of love, I still wonder…
The Age of Innocence is one of my favorite book, and I love the movie as well. Just like The Great Gatsby, the protagonist is a sensitive young man who feel deeply inside their hearts.
Newland Archer has everything. He comes from a respectable family, he is rich, and about to marry one of the most eligible girl ever. May Welland is pretty, comes from a respectable family as well, a perfect picture of a perfect wife. Life certainly gives him everything he ever wanted. Or so he thinks…
What if what you think you want turns out to be everything you don’t want to be?
What if society makes you think you know what you want? A perfect match, a good girl from a good family that will become your perfect wife and a perfect mother for your children. Society approval. The prestige. The promise of giving your family a picture perfect couple.
And when finally you realize what it is that you really want for your life…it’s too late…
Sometimes by following what society expects us to be, makes us think that we do the right thing. If our family or the society thinks that something is good for us…they must be, right? Or, wrong?
Why don’t we just choose someone because we want to be with them, because he or she is the most important thing in our lives, because our lives will be meaningless without them.
Can we escape what society expects of us? Or can’t we? Should we make a compromise?
Just Write Away 