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HENRY JAMES: THE PORTAIT OF A LADY - Coggle Diagram
HENRY JAMES: THE PORTAIT OF A LADY
the post-Civil War era
Gilded Age
the nation prospered economically
industry flourished
many technological innovations
a few industries were growing
coal
iron
gold
silver
intercontinental railway and transcontinental telegraph
influx of immigrants from Europe and Asia
printing press
improvements
more people became literate
the popularity of the novel exploded
increasing rates of democracy and literacy
fertile literary environment for readers interested in the rapid shifts of the U.S. culture
nation
transforming to a huge, modern, industrial nation
becoming a world power
Realism
American literature
the period from the Civil War to the turn of the century (1865-1890)
James Joyce
Mark Twain
Henry James
psychological Realism
contribution to the art of fiction
point of view
Realists
concerned with
the effect of their work on their readers' life and points of view
wanted to offer the readers a pragmatic view of their work
Pragmatism
reading of a work with some verifiable outcome for the reader
a better life for the reader
ethnical tendency
focusing on common actions and minor catastrophes of middle class society
create reality as it was
attention to details
focus
creating complex characters
accurate descriptions of setting, clothes, speech, everyday quotidian activities
Publication date
1884
Themes
independence
women want independence and freedom
make their own choice
not all of them come true
contrasting regions
a clash of American and European values
identity
discovering what characters want and need
Motifs
possession
Gilbert Osmond
domineering villain
possessor and possessed
Symbols
windows
Osmond's original hilltop home
prison with windows
architecture
certain characters and relationships are defined by buildings
landscape
the way in which people can be cultivated and shaped
marriage
cage
trap
art, objects
many collectors of beautiful objects
Ralp, Osmond, Rosier
collect artifacts
Isabel, Pansy, Madame Merle
represented as works of art at various points
Literary devices
personification
ellipsis
skips over Isabel's wedding
allegory
metaphor
simile
Point of view
third person limited omniscient
insights of the characters' thoughts and feelings
unidentified external voice
narrator
critical of his characters
Setting
Osmond's original hilltop home
prison with windows that do not communicate with the outside world
his attitude towards society
reclusive
the castle in Rome
fortress like
forbidding
his attitude towards their relationship
Italy
problematic
fascinating
she is outside of this society
1870s
Gardencourt
the Touchett family's gracious English country estate
reflective and calm
darkened by death
Ralph
Mr. Touchett
Florence
her aunt's home
Abbany, New York
her grandmother's house
spectral presence of America
she is American
Characters
Isabel
her father
leaves her a fortune
prevent her from marrying for the wrong reasons
victim of a Machiavellian scheme by two American expatriates
succumbs to the patriarchal order
at first
thirst for knowledge
becomes a thing of beauty, rather than an independent being
ship
Ralph
convinces the girl's father to put a little wind in her sails
give her a fortune
she is on an expedition to explore life
his sense of admiration for his cousin's sense of adventure
tamed and cut down in a walled garden by Osmond
Osmond
his view
relations are seen as possessor and possession
takes this attitude toward the three women in his life
wife
lover
innocent daughter
self-centered
everything he does is calculated for his effect
he thinks that the world should come to him
indolent
Madame Merle
intelligent
witty
charming
adulteress
knows how to accomplish anything
one of the most admired women in Europe
her ambition and firm pursuit
great flaw
her daughter does not like her
Ralph Touchett
cosmopolite
devotes his life to observing Isabel's activities
Pansy
was raised in a convent to guarantee her docility and obedience
Tone
critical
sympathetic