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The Ambassad­ors: Henry James' Explorat­ion of American Innocenc­e

1.370 Words / ~2 pages sternsternsternstern_0.25stern_0.3 Author Laura M. in Apr. 2011
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English Language

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West University Timisoara

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2010/2011, 7

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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.


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