Henry James and Washington Square
I didn’t expect Washington Square to be the first book I picked up since grad school. I took several years off from reading, even though it’s one of my favorite activities. Technically my first read after graduation was Seven Days in the Art World, but if we are talking about literature, the first book was WS. It has been a great re-entry point with literature. I think grad school burned me out to reading and over analyzing everything. There was always something deeper being said and intention was everything. My first class in grad school was American literature and it turned me off to this genre. In fact, aside from the Jack London readings, I disliked all of it. The women seemed weak and the characters fated to unhappiness.
In the tradition of Victorian novels, Washington Square begins with a long description of the characters in their settings, and the title of the book is a location, a house. This kind of intentional focus on location is very telling about the novel. It provides a historical lens for reading the text, and honestly it felt a lot like a George Elliot novel. Mansfield park, Wuthering Heights, Middlemarch, and others all follow this tradition of emphasizing the importance of setting. We are not to judge the characters beyond the period the setting is taking place.
It’s very easy to judge the characters in this book and James makes it even easier by telling us the why. The characters feel very flat. The doctor exposes a very critical and scientific way of thinking, forgetting his human emotions. It reminded me very much of Jack London’s novels and their characters battling with survival. It almost felt like an example of survival of the fittest in the city. We are reminded frequently that the doctor made his own fortune, along with his style of deductive thinking. What is equally tragic is the fact he does not invest time in his daughter because of his preconceived ideas.
“You are good for nothing unless you are clever.”
The novel really sets us up to criticize women for their virtues or lack thereof. To a modern reader it’s quite a painful read. However, it had charm in that the main character does not fulfill the expected outcome. There are real life lessons from this novel, although I’m still working out what they would be for me.
I love the bravery in the quote from the book. I decided to put it onto a plant illustration and create a t-shirt design out of it. I think we all need to remember in life there will be painful moments, and this book reminded me that all of us experience the same major events in life: losing parents, marriage, suitors, treacherous friendships, and finding our values. Experiences can break people. However, choice is everything. We can choose to not be eternally jilted, or we can choose to grow in a new direction. It all depends on if you want to make the “jump.”
I’ll be making a t-shirt for every book I read. If you’d like to follow the series, you can on IG. If you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear what you think of it in the comments below, or on Instagram.
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