He saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together by ignorance on the one side and hypocrisy on the other.
This quote from Edith Wharton's 'The Age of Innocence' offers a piercing observation on the nature of societal marriages during that era. It underscores how many unions are reduced to superficial arrangements, where genuine emotional connection gives way to transactional and social considerations. The phrase 'dull association' suggests a stagnancy—marriages that have lost their vitality and intimacy, becoming mere formalities rather than partnerships rooted in love and mutual understanding. The mention...