English 015 - Americans Abroad
A Separate World
A Separate World
Category: 1E: Twain, James, Wharton | Hope Stockton
In Henry James’s Daisy Miller and Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” Americans abroad are mostly found to be very uneasy with their surroundings. In an attempt to make themselves feel more comfortable, these travelers work to create a separate world to which they can escape. To illustrate this behavior James uses the character Mrs. Walker, with Daisy Miller as a contrasting figure; Wharton uses Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. While identifying why characters behave in such a manner abroad, both authors also offer the reader some idea of the advantages and consequences of such alienation, and comment on whether or not it is a necessary component of travel.
From the very beginning of his novella, James is quick to point out the pattern Americans abroad fall into. On page three he describes Vevey, Switzerland, as having the air of “an American watering-place...[with] sights and sounds that evoke a vision, an echo, of Newport and Saratoga.” Later in the novel, James pays closer attention to this behavior with the actions of Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Walker, an old-money society type, is very uneasy with Rome and its people. She worries about Daisy, spending so much time with natives like Mr. Giovanelli, and tries to caution her personally and through Winterbourne. During one particular encounter between the two women, Mrs. Walker becomes desperate to pull Daisy into her carriage. Mrs. Walker views her carriage as the safest place to be: a place where Daisy may save her reputation, and where Winterbourne and Mrs. Walker may discuss anything they choose. Mrs. Walker also extends this idea of a protected space to her parties, where she has control over who comes and what happens to some extent. On page 64, she exerts this power when she deliberately turns her back on Daisy as she leaves the party, saying, “she [Daisy] never enters my drawing room again.” Mrs. Walker, nervous in her foreign surroundings, works to create her own space where she has control and security.
With Daisy Miller, Henry James depicts a character who, in strong contrast to Mrs. Walker, is very comfortable in a foreign setting. Daisy appears to delight in being part of Rome and interacting with the natives. Although seemingly naïve, Daisy works hard to dissolve the distance Americans place between themselves and a foreign country. On page 62, Winterbourne tries to differentiate for her appropriate behavior for each country, saying, “’American flirting is pure American silliness; it has…no place in this system.’” At the time, Daisy shrugs off his words of caution, making herself out to be a flake; although this is not her only effort to mix worlds and introduce people to something new. Daisy is very conscious of her presence and the eyes upon her, and she uses this awareness to make her point. On page 57, she very clearly combines the world of foreigner and native in a very public setting. Seated on a ledge with Mr. Giovanelli close by her side, Daisy allows her parasol to drop and enclose her and Mr. Giovanelli in a very intimate, romantic world. Not only does this action continue the games she plays with Winterbourne, it also sends a clear message that these two worlds can be mixed, and in a very comfortable and positive way. Daisy again uses Mr. Giovanelli to this end by bringing him to Mrs. Walker’s party. On page 60, she puts Mr. Giovanelli on stage and shows him off to illustrate what the other Americans are missing by alienating themselves. Henry James appears to use the character of Daisy to illustrate the consequences of behavior like Mrs. Walker’s, to imply a negative impact upon a person. Subtly however, James uses the fate of Daisy, the one character who attempts to connect two separate worlds, to support this behavior of alienation.
In “Roman Fever,” Edith Wharton describes this same behavior of separation in Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. Wharton’s characters, uneasy with their surroundings because of past actions there, take refuge mentally, in memories and feelings. Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade are seated in front of “the most beautiful view in the world” (Wharton, 750), and not a word passes between them about it, instead they dwell on feelings of anger and jealousy, stemming from the past. The job of reminding the reader of the setting falls to the narrator, who is only allowed brief descriptions before the past is again called upon. For example on page 755, the narrator describes the “long green hollow of the Forum, the fading glow of the church fronts beyond it, and the outlying immensity of the Coliseum.” However, the next three words, “suddenly she thought,” quickly erase these images of Rome from the reader’s mind. These two women, physically set apart from Rome up in the corner of a high veranda, dwell mostly in memories of New York City: thoughts of apartments lived in and parties attended. However, the world these two women knit together does not exclude memories of Rome, only the Rome they do include is a very different one, as Rome “stands for different things to each generation” (Wharton, 754). Memories of the past successfully alienate both reader and characters from the current setting in Wharton’s story.
James and Wharton offer a very clear view of American behavior abroad, as well its results. To the reader, the consequences of such behavior of alienation appear clear at first: by creating a separate world, one never experiences beyond what he or she already knows, hence the limited life of Mrs. Walker. However, both James and Wharton go beyond this simple message and offer a much stronger warning, one that actually supports this alienation: involvement in the native world can be dangerous and in one particular case, fatal. In Daisy Miller, Daisy’s fate is the perfect illustration of this warning. Daisy visits the Coliseum at night with Mr. Giovanelli, ignoring the warnings of Roman fever, a disease which threatens foreigners but not natives. It is this action, this final attempt to bridge the gap between visitor and native, which in the end costs Daisy her life. The characterization of Daisy not only warns against headstrong, independent behavior in young girls, but also cautions against deep involvement in foreign settings. In “Roman Fever,” Wharton delivers the same message, although the consequences are not quite as dire for her characters. In their youth, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade were very involved with the Eternal City and places like the Coliseum. The actions of one night’s visit to the Coliseum left their marriages and families in ruins, and infected the rest of their lives with bitter and hateful feelings, creating a new type of Roman fever as the title suggests. Delving into a foreign world, conclude both James and Wharton, is a dangerous business, it can alter or even take away one’s life, hence the necessity of alienation.
Posted by on October 02, 2003 at 01:57 PM