m the pantheon of New York society. He recognizes that they are mortal humans with real human feelings. He knows that as time passes, he is aging and getting farther from the happiness he wants in life. His emotional bond with Ellen is mortal. They share human fallibilities and a warmness and compassion that the rest of his peers do not. But even though he is pulled toward a life of love and happiness, he remains within the walls of the pantheon and becomes, like the others, immortal.And here is Newland’s struggle. He realizes that despite the immortal characteristics beget by the New York pantheon, his mortality is real, especially in the company of Ellen. We understand that Newland recognizes evidence of his mortality in the literature he reads. He begins to feel trapped in the pantheon when the Wellands urge him to be dutiful and visit each of the families to announce their engagement. He knows that he is an animal who has been taken from the wild. May, or Diana, the huntress has trapped him. He makes an excuse for himself. He decides that his anthropological readings are changing his point of view. Newland and Ellen find this sense of mortality looking to the future. They speak casually about the telephone and the incredible writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne. Newland also recognizes his mortality in his study of relics and contemporary inventions. Newland compares the New York society with the hieroglyphic world. Both are obscure and ancient. Newland understands that the codes of the New York society will someday seem as obscure and baffling as hieroglyphs.Newland and Ellen understand the importance of the future even though they are surrounded by the ghosts of the past; their peers are the immortal souls that surround them. By comparison, Ellen and Newland seem transient. They are mortal because together they are born and if they choose a future together, they will age and die. But Newland is una...
