Wharton uses word painting to describe the intolerant, rigid older generation. The van der Luydens symbolize the frosty chill of old New York. Newland believes Louisa has been “gruesomely preserved in the airless atmosphere” like “bodies caught in glaciers keep for years a rosy life-in-death.” Louisa defers to her husband almost sacredly and Newland has a disturbing vision of his own marriage in future years. The van der Luydens hold family loyalty as sacrosanct. Mrs. Mingott remarks, however, that New York society needs new blood. The van der Luydens are the proof.
Wharton personifies New York society as having eyes and ears because the van der Luyden’s carriage in front of the Mingott household is instant news. As “arbiters of taste,” the van der Luydens contrast considerably with Lawrence Lefferts. Newland says that Lefferts conspired to keep everyone away from the Countess’ dinner because he had neglected his wife and he needed to point a hypocritical finger elsewhere to keep her from discovering his latest indiscretion. Mrs. Archer remarks, “It shows what Society has come to.” While Lefferts is tolerated despite his known indiscretions, the Countess is ostracized until the family gives an outward appearance of accepting her.
Dinner is a wonderful venue for contrasting old, cosmopolitan Europe with upstart, provincial New York and Wharton wastes no time in ironically portraying their attitudes. One would expect the Countess and the Duke, as representatives of European royalty, to be concerned with the stuffy rules of society, but instead, they ignore the rules. The New Yorkers, products of the “new world,” might be expected to be free and liberated, but instead, they are the ones commenting on breaches of etiquette.
