The Luck of the Privileged
The author himself is on record as saying not only that the theme of the novel is about the way chance encounters in youth can shape one’s lives well into the future, but that the genesis of the idea was this very element of his past. What his interviews neglect to mention, however, is that the random chance of fate from his past as well as those in the novel are really only applicable to people moving in influential circles. Everybody in the world has chance encounters with people in their twenties that wind up having absolutely no impact on the lives they lead in their forties. The difference between us and them is that this is the rule for us while for those who move about in privilege, it is the exception. It isn’t really simply chance and or fate when encounters make in one’s twenties happen to be with people who come from influential, privileged, or wealthy families. In this manner, at least, the book is a reflection of the distorted perspective of people—like the investment banker who crafted the novel—living in privileged bubbles who think everybody else’s life is ruled by all the same determiners.
When Manners Mattered
In a way, this novel is thematically link to Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. Both novels set their stories among the elite of New York City and in both a couple in love are kept from winding up together due to the formal expectation of civility. Of course, when Newland Archer discovers that his future has been decided by almost literally everyone but him, it is through no fault of his own. Guilt on the part of the protagonist is the engine here. The novel seems to be suggesting that this world of behaving civilly is a thing of the past. Seems to be about right.
The Rich are Not Us
Some reviewers have compared the novel to The Great Gatsby, though such comparisons seem thin. There is one theme pursued in the novel which links to Fitzgerald: his observation that the rich are not like everybody. The story is set in the late 30’s, but when it comes to the wealthy of New York, whether it’s 1897, 1937 or 2007 really does not matter much. Why? Because, as Fitzgerald tried to point out, the rich are different from you and me. The setting is the final years of the Great Depression, but you probably would not realize this if you weren’t entirely sure of the timeline of the era. It is often just a little too eerily reminiscent of how the Wall Street crowd that caused the financial collapse of 2007-2008 lived lives that seemed to be completely unaware of it.
