New York´s high society in the 19th century

• • New York’s high society was a small community in which everyone knew each other and knew how influential and how highly esteemed the individual families were

  • This tight-knit community mostly did not want to realize the problems of New York as a metropolis

  • The high society families lived their life according to certain principles, their own moral and life codes that were not understandable for outsiders

  • In the 19^th century the United States had to deal with economic changes that had an impact on different social fields

  • Old traditions were replaced by modern views, but the old still influenced the new views

  • The family was the basis of all development potentialities of the individual. Every member was in the family’s debt and had to act according to their standards

  • Women and men were not equal partners. Women always had to accept a subordinate role to their husbands

Resources:

Lewis, R.W.B., ed. The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Scribner, 1968. Print.104-127.

Kornetta, Reiner. Das Korsett im Kopf: Ehe und Ökonomie in den Kurzgeschichten Edith Whartons. Frankfurt am Main, New York: P. Lang, 1996. Print. Düsseldorfer Beiträge aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik Bd.4.