Washington Square by Henry James - Essay Example

Coming of Age ‘Washington Square’ by Henry James is often described as a novel of manners in which the author depicts the New York of the 1840’s, especially portraying the lives of the elite. This novella traces the life of Catherine Sloper, described as “plain faced” and “kind hearted”. On the other hand, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain is the story of a runaway boy from a poor family, who encounters many exciting people and events during his escapades. The setting of the two novels could not be more diverse, but yet, the theme that is central to both the stories is the coming-of-age of the protagonists, and the way in which they realize their inner strength and moral aptitude. Henry James’s position in the literary world is incomparable owing to the diversity of his works and the great volume of his literary works. His mastery of the psychological genre of novel writing and his innovative writing style makes his work distinct from that of other famous masters of the trade. Henry James believed that a piece of written work is good, if it resembles the intelligent conversation of men, and that is one of the reasons for the conversational style of his writing. Henry James employed the stream of consciousness method, where the novel is told from the point of view of a character. Some of the most famous books by him are “The Portrait of a Lady” “The Bostonians” and “Daisy Miller”. He also wrote a large number of short stories and essays in addition to criticisms. Setting is a very important element in his writing, and his characters and themes are seen in relation to their setting, and various eras and periods in time are used as the tools which create obstacles in the life of his characters. “Washington Square” is one of his early short novels which deals with the future of a young, simple girl is controlled by her authoritarian father, who rejects her young suitor. There ensues a battle of wills, all fought within the elegant townhouse which is their residence, and the story is marked by an unexpected turn of events and an equally surprising ending. James W. Gargano in the essay “Washington Square: A study in the Growth of the Inner Self” has made a clear critique which puts Catherine Sloper at the centre of all the action in the novel and traces her growth- emotional, spiritual and psychological, while earlier critics had been content to see her as a dull homely girl, much like her father (Gragano, 355,357). But as is typical of all the heroines of James novels “At the beginning, the good heroines are all in the dark; but by the end, they are the only ones who see”. The novel is set in the eponymous Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Square and tells the story of Catherine, the simple daughter of the intellectually strong Dr. Sloper, a physician. Their household also houses the doctor’s sister Lavinia, living with them, a woman given to flights of fancy, who encourages Catherine’s affections for the wastrel actor, Morris Townsend, whose only interest in her is her vast fortune which she would inherit from her father. Dr. Sloper sees through the scheming Morris’ plans and threatens to disown Catherine. After all his efforts at persuading her against Morris fails, he leaves all his fortune to charity. When Morris, after a gap of six years expresses his wish to marry Catherine, she rejects him, well aware that he loved her fortune and not her. She is content to live the life of a spinster, pursuing her hobbies. Dr. Sloper’s dilemma about his daughter’s future with Morris Townsend is justified, but his good intentions are marred by his extreme steps. The reason for Catherine’s lack of confidence is her submission to her strong father, because she is all the time trying to live up to his expectations of her. Dr. Sloper looks for intelligence and beauty in his daughter, averting himself from her innate kindness and goodness of heart. When we consider the novel as one belonging to the psychological genre, we can appreciate the depth of Catherine’s character. She is a very simple girl whose naiveté is misunderstood as stupidity, by her father, but it is in effect, a mind that is open to receive the lessons of life. She is an ingénue, whose child-like delight at the affections displayed by Morris Townsend, show a woman still not made cunning by the world around her (Gargano, 130). Catherine is so untrained in the ways of the world, and Henry James describes it thus “She watched herself as she would have watched another person, and wondered what she would do” (qtd in Gargano, 131). This reveals Catherine’s attempts at gaining a sense of “insight” into herself as a person and this alone reveals that she is not dull or listless, as her father thinks her to be. According to some critics, the depiction of Catherine as an innocent girl in the beginning of the novel is deliberate, since; her metamorphosis into a “girl… mature in her thinking and feeling” is judged best when placed in relation to her earlier simplicity (Anthony, Gretchen). While all the other characters in the novel are straitjacketed into their own emotional makeup, Catherine shows the transformation in nature which all individuals have to undergo in their relationships. Dr. Austin Sloper, his two sisters and Morris Townsend are rigid in their convictions and attitudes from start to end, even though the action in the novel takes up two decades. The second half of the novel is especially concerned with the sophistication of her emotions (Anthony), which is seen during the episode when Catherine tells her father about her plans to marry Townsend. When her father tells her to postpone this and instead go to Europe, for the first time “there was a spark of anger in her grief” (James, 140).The one instance which readers also cite as Catherine’s stupidity is her failure to see through the deceitful affection of Morris Townsend, but Gargano considers it a transcendental touch in her emotions. Catherine’s tragedy is not the life of spinsterhood she is forced to lead, but rather the evils of “patriarchal capitalism” (Bell, Ian). Readers are given a picture of Catherine as being dominated by her father, who holds the reins of power in the house, but what we fail to see, is the almost dictatorial attitude of Dr. Sloper towards his daughter. He carries his authority over her, even on to his death bed, when he ultimately disinherits her. Even when he asks his sister to raise the girl appropriately, the emphasis is on making her clever rather than good. Catherine’s life is spent in trying to please her father and the tug-of-war between the two men is not for her loyalty or love, but only for her money. This takes away any “admiration for her father” which the young girl might have felt at some time in her life (Gard, 89). Catherine gave up Morris Townsend to please her father, but the end result was a lovely life. To highlight the life of spinsterhood which is the ultimate fate of Catherine would be to belittle the transformation that she has undergone, since, by rejecting her father’s wishes and refusing to marry Morris Townsend after her father’s death, we are made aware of the confidence that has seeped into her being. Henry James leaves us with the image of “picking up her morsel of fancywork… seat herself with it again for life, as it were”. But Catherine nurtured her disillusionment with men, where one sought to control her and the other wooed her so that he could live off her fortune. In the final pages of this interesting book. Catherine is “self-contained and ultimately satisfied with the choices that she has made” (Anthony). Gargano romanticizes Catherine’s life by stating that “loss is the real goal for which James’s central characters are secretly striving” (Resse, Cynde) but what remains in the memory of the readers is the strength of character displayed by Catherine in rejecting the two selfish men. By renouncing them, she becomes dignified, for herself as also for those around her. Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is set in the Missouri of the 1880’s and tells the story of Huck and Jim the negro slave, who eventually escapes to freedom. The book is also considered as Twain’s treatise on slavery and what he thought of this cruel practice. During the time of its publication, it was labeled “unsuitable” for children although now it is prescribed reading in middle school. It is the tale of young Huck who is caught between society’s expectations of him and his own behavior, which although not rebellious definitely does not conform to the rules which govern human behavior in social contexts. In the course of his adventures, Huck Finn faces dilemmas, when the path that seems right to him is not always the one condoned by society. Huck is placed under the care of Widow Douglas who spends all her energies in trying to change him - "she took me for her son, and allowed that she would civilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time." (p. 11). Huck had all his life been let down by people who were, in the eyes of society his care takers, as in his relationship with his drunk father, who cared only for the money his son had won in the lottery. Life with the old widows was a kind of punishment for the young boy, who inspite of trying hard to imitate the right manners and conventions, could not really fit in with the mundane and claustrophobic environment. He looked forward to a life of adventures in the wild, in the company of the runaway slave Jim, who had become his soul-mate. Huck’s relationship with Jim is the central thread in the novel through which we see the evolution of the 14 year old boy from a utter miscreant to a person who breaks the laws in order to make life better and easier for his fellow human, Jim. Huck helps Jim in his escape plans, but his guilt at breaking the law, which forbade anyone from helping a slave escape, makes him rethink about his actions “It got to troubling me so I couldn’t rest; …I got to feeling so mean and miserable most wished I was dead" (88). Huck’s apparent honesty in dealing with his emotions is a sure sign of the stirrings of sincerity in him, an emotion he had not experienced before. The story leads on to more adventures which all showcase the growth of the confused boy into a morally aware person, who cannot recognize his innate goodness, because the means employed to redeem them, are at complete variance with social norms. In the episode with the orphan girls, where his friends the Duke and the King plot to cheat the innocent girls of their inheritance, he makes up his mind to save the girls fortune, even if it means giving up his friendship. But Huck knows which friends are worth helping and holding onto for life, as in the case of his helpful attitude towards Jim. His relationship with Jim is symbiotic, because both individuals gain from their association with each other. While Jim’s gain is tangible, in the form of freedom from slavery, Huck’s growth is conceptual. He learns to listen to his conscience which he had stifled for such a long time but here too, in his innocence he is not able to make out the morally right step he has taken. The humane side in him appeals to help Jim, but the indoctrination of society against slavery makes him question this very noble motive. He becomes a hero in the eyes of the slave, who sees his freedom beckoning from the horizon, yet he is wracked by guilt at having broken the law. It is a seminal moment in the book, because Huck may have done the right thing, yet he is feeling guilty but then he finally listens to his heart and helps Jim in escaping. The two protagonists travel the road of life and after many pitfalls and brickbats they come out triumphant, because both of them have learnt the lessons of life. They both have strong, domineering fathers who try to run their lives and most shockingly instead of providers, they run after their children’s wealth. When Huck defies his father and runs away, he is on the road to fulfillment, while Catherine, by rejecting her father’s threats of disowning her and her calm acceptance of the life of a spinster, shows that goodness is a more valuable commodity than cleverness. Both Henry James and Mark Twain had proved their mettle of having the ability of flitting between the love/hate, happy/sad, good/bad and right/wrong themes that flow effortlessly through both the stories. Both of them possess the insight to infuse the right amount of emotion to pull at the heart- strings of their audiences all over the world. In my opinion, both these stories are classics because they not only narrate incidences but also gives a lot of food for thought for the reader to reflect upon. References GradeSaver: Washington Square - Study Guide http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/washington/themes.html Amazon.com: Washington Square (Signet Classics): Henry James ... http://www.amazon.com/Washington-Square-Signet-Classics-Henry/dp/product-description/0451528719 Henry James. Biography and complete works http://www.booksfactory.com/writers/james.htm Henry James Washington Square -- Catherine Sloper's Self ... http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=34586 James Essays http://www.mscd.edu/~english/3230/jamesF99.htm James, Henry. Washington Square. New York: Signet, 1964 Gargano, James W. "Washington Square: A Study in the growth of an Inner Self." Term papers on ADVENTURES HUCKLEBERRY FINN, ADVENTURES HUCKLEBERRY ... http://www.academon.com/lib/paper/64820.html Free Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essays http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=Adventures+of+Huckleberry+Finn Read More