The Ambassadors
1.The Ambassadors this is a story about the interaction between Europe
and America as dramatized through the experiences of one man, Lambert Strether.
The novel portrays the contrast between American innocence with European
experience, between naiveté and sophistication, between provincial society and
world society, between the capitalistic nature of America and the artistic,
aesthetic Parisian sensibility.
After the Civil
War, the American economy flourished, allowing the wealthy to travel to other
places, particularly Europe. The theme American abroad became popular in
literature. Henry James himself was an American abroad, and much of his writing
explores the American experience in foreign lands. In The Ambassadors
the characters comes from the United States to Europe. The manner in which each
character responds to the European environment speaks to the larger experience
of Americans abroad.
Throughout the
novel, the narrator constantly locates events in specific places, and
characters repeatedly refer to specific locations. The author foregrounds the
importance of place right from the beginning by emphasizing how different
Strether feels in Europe in comparison with the United States. Europe,
especially Paris symbolizes the social, intellectual, and imaginative freedom. At
the time, Parisian culture was thought to encourage sexual misconduct and vile
relationships. Mrs. Newsome believes that Paris has a corrupting force on
Chad, the prodigal son. In Woollett, social proprieties and a timid, young
culture make people anxious and preoccupied more on materialistic values.
When Strether
comes to Europe, his commitments to the American background and mentality are
still strong, he believes that Paris is the dangerous and modern “vast bright
Babylon,”, as he calls Paris, that has seduced Chad into its vulgar vices. Strether
remembers his first visit to Paris as a young man and he fears that his return
to the Paris will negatively affect him. He still comes to Europe with a
genuine curiosity, intending to combine the act of rescuing Chad with the
opportunity of knowing something of the beauties of European life. He correctly
realizes that his delight in Paris will permanently change him and as the novel
progresses, Strether discovers that the trade-off is worth it. He enjoys Paris,
and welcomes subsequent changes in his personality. Unlike the other
characters, Strether represents theopen-minded type of American abroad. He
learns how to see Europe from the experienced Europeanized woman, Miss Gostrey,
herself an American abroad. His conversations with Miss Gostrey teach him to
see the world in a European way.
Woollett,
Massachusetts, with its provincial Americans,(like Mrs. Newsome), symbolizes
the immature American cultural landscape. Timid, young American culture is so unsure
of itself he fears the influence of all outside forces, including the
culturally rich Paris. Throughout the novel, Woollett represents close-minded
provincialism. H. James put in contrast the small American town with the cosmopolitan
European city. Jim Pocock wants to see the vice and opulence for which Paris
has become famous in the United States. In contrast, Waymarsh hates Paris
because it fails to offer him what he likes about his American home. These two
characters represent opposite sides of the same American provincialism. Neither
character is able to appreciate what is truly great about Paris: its confident,
age-old culture and its reliance on cultural, as opposed to monetary values. Strether
maintains a fundamental belief in the power of Europe to change people for the
better. During his conversation with Sarah, Strether wants to find out whether
Europe has affected her but realizes that his cultural curiosity and naive
optimism are no match for Sarah’s puritan beliefs. Strether represents the type
of American capable of appreciating the complex and rich culture of Europe.
Once in Paris,
Strether is ready to judge for himself what Chad’s real situation is; but he
approaches Chad gradually, taking great precautions to see and understand first
the new environment. Strether represents the struggle to live life to the
fullest extent. He feels as though he has suffered from this inability
throughout his entire youth and adulthood, and he regrets having missed out on
significant life experiences. Now middle-aged, Strether fears that he will
never be able to live fully in the moment. But in Paris, he begins to
experience truly saturated moments. He appreciates Paris for itself and for its
difference from Woollett. However, in Paris Strether learns that he is able to
live in the present, fully enjoying life.
To Strether,
Madame de Vionnet symbolizes Europe generally and Paris specifically. The
narrator refers to cosmopolitan Parisian women as femmes du monde, the French
phrase for “women of the world.” Madame de Vionnet becomes the human embodiment
of the European city. Strether finds her charming, mysterious, multifaceted,
intoxicating, and exotic aura, much as he finds Paris.
The end of the
novel reinforces the idea that not all of Strether’s personality changes have
positive effects. In the final meeting with Madame de Vionnet, Strether
realizes that he has idealized women in general, but particularly the Madame.
This painful realization affects his last conversation with Miss Gostrey—and
causes Strether to understand that he has fallen in love with Madame de
Vionnet. His relationship with Madame de Vionnet symbolizes the way he kindly
viewed and, later, genuinely embraced European culture and society. Europe made
him capable of loving the extraordinary Madame de Vionnet—and he feels grateful
toward the continent and the woman.
At the end
Strether still prefers for himself the role of an observer. He leaves Europe as
a changed man, and returns to the United States with a new perspective. Even if
enriched by his experiences, trained in the art of life the union of American
provinciality and European sophistication does not occur, he preserves
something of his original New England idealism.
Strether also takes
the wisdom gained from the venerable Old World and transfere it back to
America. He has no regrets and does not long to change any of his actions
performed in Europe. The fact that he cannot accept the companionship of Miss
Gostrey at the end attests that to be true to himself and his noble character,
he must return to Woollett without having any direct personal gain. His gain,
however, is inside. Strether has grown tremendously as a person: in goodness,
in wisdom, in life experience, and in emotional depth.
2. Unlike most popular novels, the climax of the novel follows the
Modernist line, it is quiet, subtle, and lacking in any overt, boisterous
action. In the climatic scene, no villain is captured and no character is
killed. Instead, an obscure truth is revealed, a reality is recognized—and that
is all: nothing more occurs. The central symbol used in the novel is the
cosmopolitan Paris; also Woollett, Massachusetts is the symbol of the
close-minded provincialism of a small-town from America.
From the opening
pages of the novel, plot points, like setting, time, and physical description,
come second. Instead, Strether’s thoughts are the focus of the narration. The
novel is narrated in the third person, following the perspective of Lambert
Strether throughout the entire book. The unnamed voice relates the thoughts,
feelings, actions, and observations of Strether as they occur over the course
of his visit to Europe. The narrative voice is also subjective: it relates the
exterior actions and statements of all the characters and relates the complete
interior and exterior life of the main character Lambert Strether with some
sympathy for Strether’s plight.
Strether's
subjectivity is reflected by discover that his idealized images of others, even
of themselves, are flawed, and so his fundamental belief in human wholeness,
coherence and integrity is challenged. When Strether discovers the limitations,
in the climactic scene when he encounters Chad Newsome and Madame de Vionnet in
the French countryside, he understands his own blindness, he sees not only the
illicit relationship between Chad and Madame de Vionnet, but also he realizes
his own failure and the frailty of vision.
The narrator
describes what is on Strether’s mind and what passes before Strether’s eyes,
rarely stepping back to explain events that happened to Strether in the past or
that are occurring in places where Strether is not. Instead of answer to basic
who-what-where-when questions about Strether, the author uses the narrator to
emphasize the novel’s main formal technique. Only by following Strether’s early
conversations with Waymarsh and Miss Gostrey will readers be able to understand
the essential reason for Strether’s visit to Europe.