【導(dǎo)讀】題目：《純真年代》中艾迪絲?

　　

【正文】 he follows and obeys all of society39。s customs, perfectly. Mostly, she is shallow, uninterested and uninteresting young woman that New York society requires. To be with May, Archer39。s masculine dignity is expanding to its full. Her perfect profile makes him the proudest man in the world with 14 other39。s admiration while her innocence makes him her guardian and guide, as if she were his child. Nevertheless, it is the woman let Archer be his own prisoner. There are two significant things in her manipulation. One thing is that in St. Augustine May offers Newland release from their engagement so he can marry the woman he truly loves, thinking he wants to be with Mrs. Rushworth. The thing gives Newland a rare glimpse of the maturity and passion he had previously ignored about May. In the thing, May regards that she can not have her happiness made out of a wrong－ an unfairness － to somebody else, which embodies May39。s chasing for a marriage built on the true love not the social interests and she does not at the least wish to be a puppet of a man, she would like the marriage is fair not only to themselves but also to others. The other one is that May conspires with the traditional groups or munities to banish Ellen from New York and to thwart Newland39。s plan to leave with Ellen. As a wife, she has succeeded in championing her marriage and overshadows the male dignity and proud of Newland who is shackled in a loveless marriage and being a “nice” husband and father. As the member of the society, May has played the role of a defender to guard its orders and conventions. The likeness to Goddess Diana May Welland is often depicted as Diana who is the goddess of the moon and the hunting in the ancient Greek mythology. There exists the 15 likeness between May and Diana. Firstly, May’s dressing style keeps the high conformity with Diana. There is a description in the chapter eight of the book presenting us a goddess alike May. “In her dress of white and silver, with a wreath of silver blossoms in her hair, the tall girl looked like a Diana just alight from the chase.” White is May’s favorite color so it is no wonder that May is deeply keen on the liliesofthevalley. White is the symbol of purity and innocence. For the sake of the moon, white is endowed with the trait of mistery. It is the white color that reveals the personality of May properly. Secondly, May’s interest in sports, especially she is adept at Archery, which makes her full of the potential of being a good hunter. Just like Diana, what she aims of is never to be out of her control, triumph is always belongs to her. That is to say, Newland is never endowed with the chance to get away from her and Ellen is doomed to be banished if she is stubborn to stay here. Thirdly, May the name is a month of spring being the best time to hunt. Thus, no matter the external elements or the internal personality May is portrayed as a Diana like figure, which alludes to the destiny of the three main characters. 16 Chapter Three The ways to present the traits of the characters Round and Dynamic Characters Newland Acher and Ellen Olenska can be categorized into round and dynamic characters. Round characters have mutiple personality traits and no single description or interpretation can fully contain them. Newland Archer is portrayed as a character with plex personality and contradictory moral values. He holds the belief to be a decent and noble New Yorker while he is disgusted with the hypocrisy and indifference of his class. In a word, he wants to be different deep within himself. Ellen Olenska is regarded as a free spirit and a improvident character. She lives in the moment when she is happy. Nevertheless, a person with such conspicuous chrisma is also not careless to anything or anything. At least, she cares about her family and the happiness related to them. Therefore, she is most willing to make sacrifices for them. Here we can e to the idea that both of Newland and Ellen can not be categorized into a certain sort of person. No definitions to be made easily on them. Dynamic characters refer to a change in them and typically there is a growth in understand. Newland Acher is endowed with a growing course 17 in his rediscovery and experiences in the society. Here we can call it a course from selfdeconstruction to selfredefinition to selfreconstruction. Besides his own discovery and thinking, there are two person exert a great influence on him: Ellen Olenska and Ned Winsett. The former brings him a brand new perspective of observing the the society he lives in and forces him to carry on an introspection on himself. And the latter changes his career lilfe and gives him the idea of going to the politcs. Ellen’s change is made when she gets the awareness that Newland and his mother have done much efforts to make her accepted by the New York society again. There es her an significant decision to give up divocring her husband which is considered to be a conventional taboo. Ellen’s growth here we can see is to be a less freewheeling wanderer and her attempts to be an true American— do what all the people do. That is her first time to return to her family to New York on minds. Flat and Static Characters May Welland is often considered the stereotype as the innocent product of the conventional society and she remains the innocence in her whole life. We may easily categorized into the flat and static