The characters in The Age of Innocence are portrayed as tragic victims of cruel social conventions. Each of them have an effect on the other and that is what captures your attention. Newland is the protagonist of the story and he has a major choice to make between two very different worlds. One world offers a life of happiness among the wealthy; the other offers freedom from all social affairs. The Age of Innocence was titled based on the three main characters, Newland Archer, May Welland, and Ellen Olenska, interactions with one another.

Archer, whose first name refers to the American hero's quest for a newland, struggles with his romantic triangle and need for self-definition. He appears to be a traditional American hero: the American male whose search for a "new frontier", according to some critics, makes this country's literature distinctly American. In describing the romantic triangle that...