Edith Wharton's novel, The Age of Innocence, has an ironic twist to the plot of the story. The official definition of irony is: the expression of what one means using language that normally means the opposite, usually for humorous or emphatic effect. Many famous novels have an ironic twist in the plot of the story. Such novels, Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby. “The Age of Innocence takes place during the last gasp of New York high society, even though its members have not sensed the dramatic changes coming to their world” (Hadley11).1 Wharton generally uses the irony for humorous effect. Irony is also used as an autobiographical effect. The role of irony in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is a major theme of Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Wharton uses the novel The Age of Innocence as a source of ironic twists linked to its autobiographical effects. Edward R. (Teddy) Wharton, Edith Wharton's former husband, is diagnosed with manic depression. Mr. Wharton also had numerous affairs during his marriage to Edith Wharton. “At the time Wharton wrote this book, she had survived an unhappy marriage of 25 years” (Cliffnotes).2 She was unaware of her husband's affair and affairs, as was May Welland in The Age of Innocence. “What is most striking in the two volumes, apart from the similarity of tone perceptible in all the tales, is Edith Wharton's preoccupation with the irony of things, particularly in relation to the failures of man” ( Plante 421).3 "What Wharton shares significantly with Archer is neither a character nor a biography but rather a particular situation: that of survival which formed her" (Evron 1).4 Wharton uses Newland Archer as a major role of irony in his novel, The Age of Innocence. "W...... middle of paper...... and hermeneutics", New Literary History 12.1 (1948): 11-27. Rep. in realism, irony and morality in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. Nir Evron. Stanford University. Print. Saunders, Judith P. "Ironic Reversal in Edith Wharton 'Bunner Sister'", in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 14. 3. (1977): 241-245. Rep. in News Criticism. Thomas Votteler. Flight. 6. Michigan: Gale, 1990. Print. Sholl, Anna McClure; “The Work of Edith Wharton,” in Gunton's Magazine Vol. 25. (November 1903): 426-432. Rep. in News Criticism. Thomas Vottele. Flight. 6. Michigan: Gale, 1990. Print.SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Age of Innocence.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. nd, Web. March 25. 2014. “Themes from The Age of Innocence.” » Cliffnotes.com. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt., nd, Web. March 25, 2014. Wharton, Edith. The age of innocence. New York: D. Appleton, 1920. Print.