My goodness, Henry James can actually write a straightforward but profound novel, unlike that dogwash poor excuse of a book The Ambassadors that I read last year. Mind you, James has just started his literary journey (even though by this time, he is about five books in) and he progressively would become more complex over the years which made him an acquired taste.
But chronology of James’ s writing aside, we need to pick apart Washington Square independent of his other works, though I can’t help myself as The Ambassadors left a damn sour feeling in my mouth. Though James admitted that this book had been a mistake like that time you woke up next to someone who looked 7/10 with beer goggles but less than half that when you’re sober, I still think that Washington Square is a simple yet brilliant book.
The Doctor takes on his daughter, everybody loses
Doctor Sloper is a pretty successful doctor, with a nice little estate in Washington Square in New York, a pretty daughter that’s ordinary but delightful and stacks of money that allows him to travel to Europe if he chooses to. But his daughter Catherine is lonely, and having no mother figure, there is no feminine guidance for her to make perhaps better choices which will ultimately undo the strings of the family.
The flywheel started to spin when Catherine met Morris Townsend in a social gathering, the two were infatuated, prompting a visit by Morris to the Sloper household. At first covertly, then shamelessly. Morris went about it the smart way though, going through Catherine’s resident aunt, Lavinia, who was close enough to Catherine without her ever being a mother figure, before eventually trying to get to her himself.
Morris is a problematic cat though: He’s not young and still penniless; he lives off his sister who’s already got five kids; and ultimately, he is a fleetfoot which might have his sight on the money instead of the girl. Doctor Sloper isn’t dumb though and he’s there to protect his interest against this pervading young man, but in the process he alienates himself away from his own daughter.
Man, daughter, joker, dud in a single hand
Washington Square is not a favourite of many Henry James fans (Jamesophiles?), who’d rather go for the next book in his chronology Portrait of a Lady or the latter confabulations such as The Ambassadors or The Golden Bowl. They think the tale too simple, the characters too mundane and the setting too familiar. It is reminiscent of an Austen novel with its exploration of the filial relationships, money, marriages and status.
But I honestly preferred Washington Square than any of Austen’s novels. Admittedly, I haven’t read much of James, this is only my third novel of his. But I’ve liked this one the most because perhaps it is the most accessible and I’m a dumbass. But I do agree with James’s assessment — the novel is better because of the girl, Catherine Sloper, who’s more reminiscent of a Charlotte Brontë heroine, with her ordinary looks and average charms, though endowed with the promise of her father’s wealth.
Catherine’s arc carries the novel and it is a most rewarding and fitting end to the novel where hardly anybody else changed in the novel: Dr Sloper is stubborn in the beginning and will be until his death, Aunt Penniman is still a busybody and drama-hungry, Morris Townsend was always destined for failure. Catherine, in her refusal of accepting suitors after her failed relationship with Townsend claims her own self and defies her father, who ultimately wanted her to marry. Catherine won in her principles, to also graduate as a philanthropist though at a cost of her father’s inheritance.
No, I don’t feel the characters mundane. I think James navigated through Catherine’s psychological landscape better than most male authors have attempted to. Yes, even Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley. Aunt Lavinia is hilarious as someone who lacks drama and attempts to create it, regardless of the victims the drama might claim, her own beloved niece included. Doctor Sloper is staunch to the end, self-indulgently so, that he would change his own will to make sure that Catherine would never marry Townsend, though she had reached old maid status.
It is the age old question, and a story that perhaps we have seen these days in movies and other romances. How much can a man overreach without money, without a job, a tempestuous history behind him and mere good looks? As readers, we can assume Townsend’s motivation in marrying an uninteresting girl such as Catherine, who he was ready to give up if there was a better option, as he left her for a job to which he fell flat.
I am in the minority, but Washington Square makes me want to read more of Henry James, perhaps his earlier works more than his later works. But my flaw as a reader is that I am a completist, so I will still be looking for the Golden Bowl and the Wings of a Dove whenever I come across them. But that’s later me’s problem.
