Newland Archer

Character Analysis

At the start of the novel, Newland Archer seems to have it all. A young man from one of the most prominent families in New York, he is looking forward to his engagement with May Welland, a beautiful and charming young woman from an equally prominent New York family. Match made in heaven, y’all.

And then along comes European Ellen Olenska, and Newland's world is turned upside down.

Diligent Dilettante

Newland seems so typically American that it's worth asking why Newland, and not some other bright young gentleman, is so seduced by Ellen's charms. The key might be in the word "dilettante," used to describe him in both the opening and final chapters (1.5, 34.10). How is Newland a dilettante, a dabbler, an amateur? Unlike other young men such as Lawrence Lefferts, Newland has the fatal flaw of being … intellectual.

Newland's reading list includes novels, poetry, history, and anthropology. He goes to the opera and the theater less for the social life, and more because he actually enjoys and appreciates art. He is often reflective and contemplative, which means being critical and snarky, at least towards his peers. Under Ellen's influence, his analytical side comes out in full force, eventually to the point where he is almost ready to sacrifice everything to run away with her.

But he's not so much of a rebel that he's willing to sacrifice his lifestyle for his intellectualism, as Ned Winsett and Monsieur Rivière do. As a dilettante, the novel tells us, Newland gets a "subtler satisfaction" in "thinking over a pleasure to come" than its "realization" (1.5). To put it another way, Newland would enjoy thinking about eating chocolate cake more than actually eating it. Over the course of the novel, Newland is constantly going off into daydreams, visualizing romantic scenarios with Ellen Olenska that do not come to pass. The vision, more than the experience, is what entrances Newland.

American as Apple Pie

This habit of dilettantism persists into his later life, thirty years later. He's unable to commit himself to the hard 'n dirty work of politics and civic responsibility, but he can manage to support a number of charitable causes as the "good citizen" and gentleman of leisure that he is.

As his name suggests, Newland Archer’s values are American. You know: America, the "new land," as opposed to the "old" ways of Europe. He's American in his decency, honesty, and self-sufficiency, his hold-the-door attitude toward his virginal fiancée, his money sense and his gentlemanly lawyer position. He's also American in the narrow-minded way he focuses on social distinctions and decorum. America: decent and classist, at least according to old Edith Wharton.

If Newland represents America, he represents an America that aims for ("arches" toward) higher ideals, but doesn't have the cojones to make fantasies into reality. There is something tragic about his resignation at the end of the novel, when he finally has the chance to move from dilettante to full-fledged romantic. Both he and Madame Olenska are free agents in their middle age: Newland should go for it.

But Newland stays true to his dilettantism to the very end. Womp womp.