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Mr. Welland
Newland Archer’s eldest son, with whom he takes a trip to Europe at the end of the book. Dallas, born twenty-six years after Archer’s affair with Ellen, represents the new generation of New York society, much less bound by convention than Archer’s peers. Dallas is an architect—a profession that older generations of high society would never have pursued—and he is about to marry Beaufort’s daughter, which would have been considered scandalous in years past. Dallas’s life shows the new possibilities for post-Gilded Age New Yorkers, and his happiness suggests that these changes are positive.
Dallas Archer Quotes in The Age of Innocence
The The Age of Innocence quotes below are all either spoken by Dallas Archer or refer to Dallas Archer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 34
Quotes
And as he had seen her that day, so she had remained;... generous, faithful, unwearied; but so lacking in imagination, so incapable of growth, that the world of her youth had fallen into pieces and rebuilt itself without her ever being conscious of the change.... And she had died thinking the world a good place, full of loving and harmonious households like her own, and resigned to leave it because she was convinced that, whatever happened, Newland would continue to inculcate in Dallas the same principles and prejudices which had shaped his parents’ lives, and that Dallas in turn (when Newland followed her) would transmit the sacred trust to little Bill.
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“She said she knew we were safe with you, and always would be, because once, when she asked you to, you’d given up the thing you most wanted.”
Archer received this strange communication in silence.... At length he said in a low voice: “She never asked me.”
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Dallas Archer Quotes in The Age of Innocence
The The Age of Innocence quotes below are all either spoken by Dallas Archer or refer to Dallas Archer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 34
Quotes
And as he had seen her that day, so she had remained;... generous, faithful, unwearied; but so lacking in imagination, so incapable of growth, that the world of her youth had fallen into pieces and rebuilt itself without her ever being conscious of the change.... And she had died thinking the world a good place, full of loving and harmonious households like her own, and resigned to leave it because she was convinced that, whatever happened, Newland would continue to inculcate in Dallas the same principles and prejudices which had shaped his parents’ lives, and that Dallas in turn (when Newland followed her) would transmit the sacred trust to little Bill.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“She said she knew we were safe with you, and always would be, because once, when she asked you to, you’d given up the thing you most wanted.”
Archer received this strange communication in silence.... At length he said in a low voice: “She never asked me.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
