Publisher's Synopsis
A Manner of Class: In Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence there is the illusion of French culture found within the pretense of manners. This is in direct contrast to Gertrude Stein's Paris France for she says, "They have so completely the sense of reality that they cannot really lie, they cannot really eventually not tell the facts as they are, and therefore they can be as polite as they want at any time, because politeness does not interfere with facts, politeness is just another fact." (Stein) It does not matter how well the upper crust of New York society apes the French ideals of a laisse-fair approach to social standing. The novel shows that love for the New York upper class is more A la carte complete with price attached rather than Au naturel where all is bared before the world.The Subconscious Communist Revolutionary: Richard Wright addresses in his novel The Outsider, a political organization which has an influential effect upon its main character Cross, specifically the Communist Party. Wright was capable of accurately applying his perspective of the Communist Party's activities and the various agenda of the Party to his novel. Wright's former membership and sub-sequential encounters with Communist organization are superimposed upon Cross's characters interactions with the 'fictional' Party portrayed in the novel. Wright himself was member of the Party, he joined the organization in the 1930's after feeling disenfranchised with American Capitalism. During his time in France he frequently admitted that "I'm a Communist that can't stand Communists." (Webb 140) . Wright publicly renounced the Party but not the ideals of the Communist.
