English 015 - Americans Abroad
Photographer vs. Movie Director
Photographer vs. Movie Director
Category: 01B: Daisy Miller | Karen Tang
The obvious difference between Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad and Henry James’s Daisy Miller is the point of view the author writes from. Mark Twain writes from the first person’s perspective, and Henry James writes from the third person’s perspective. Interestingly, at first we would assume that the novel written from the first person’s perspective would focus more on personal inner sides, such as emotional development; however, it is the opposite. Twain’s novel focuses a lot on scene descriptions, and the subject is often “we” instead of “I.” For example, in chapter 23, Twain devotes a detailed description to the graceful gondola and the skillful gondolier in Venice. “The Venetian gondola is as free and graceful…its sharp bow and stern sweep upward form the water like the horns of a crescent with the abruptness of the curve slightly modified…” (p. 161). Later on, he describes what they see in their gondola. “We see little girls and boys go out in gondolas with their nurses, for an airing. We see staid families, with prayer book and beads…we see the theatre break up and discharge its swarm of …we hear the cries of the hackman-gondoliers…” (p. 163).
Reading James’s novel, however, is like watching a movie with a lot of dialogue and plot going on. The readers are the observers, but we still get a peek into the characters’ minds, especially Mr. Winterbourne’s. There are occasionally scenery descriptions (might serve as subjective symbolizations), but the main focus is on the interactions between the people. Below is a conversation between Daisy and Mrs. Walker.
“If I didn’t walk I’d expire.”
“You should walk with your mother, dear,”
“With my mother dear?”
“My mother never walked ten steps in her life…”
“You’re old enough to be more reasonable…”
“Talked about? What do you mean?”
“Come into my carriage and I’ll tell you.” (p. 53).
Posted by ktang on October 07, 2003 at 11:12 AM