The author of this book, Henry James, is famous for describing the subtle psychology of characters. This is easily reminiscent of his brother, william james, a famous psychologist. He founded the pragmatism philosophy that led American philosophy and the theory of stream of consciousness that had a great influence on literature, and was called the father of American psychology. As a younger brother, Henry's contribution to psychology should not be underestimated. Although he didn't become a psychologist and philosopher, he skillfully and perfectly embedded psychology into his novels and created the so-called stream-of-consciousness novels.
Henry James and his brother William received their father's open education from childhood and lived with him in several countries in Europe and America. Unlike many other writers, they faced different cultures in their childhood, not from books, but from the local area, which also influenced his later creative themes. In his works, he often describes the cultural conflict between Americans and Europeans, especially the simple collision between Americans and Europeans (such as daisy miller). Another common theme is the conflict between marriage, love and money status (such as The Portrait of a Lady), and this Washington Square is also a typical representative of this theme.
This book is not long and has limited characters. It tells the story that Catherine, an introverted and plain rich girl, is pursued by a handsome and charming poor boy Townsend. They fall in love and want to marry him, but her father strongly opposes it. In the process of mediation with her father, she suffered from her father's ruthlessness, but the man who pursued her was not surprisingly a selfish gold digger, and finally broke her Covenant, leaving her alone to taste the bitter fruit of setbacks. Although it is not a complicated story, there is no multi-line, and it is a story of four people in one line. Because Henry James is good at describing three-dimensional characters, the story is true and rich in details.
Every character in this story is vividly portrayed.
For example, Jane Austen portrayed a stupid woman in a humorous way, while Henry James mercilessly portrayed a stupid person, which was disgusting. A typical example in this book is Catherine's aunt, who has been living in the home of a famous doctor's younger brother in new york and taking care of Catherine's growth. Due to the lack of knowledge and busyness, she became a character in Catherine's tragic life.
On the other hand, Catherine's father has a decent and decent job, earning a lot of money and thinking highly of himself. I have high hopes for Catherine, expecting her to be an excellent woman like her mother, so as to alleviate his grief of losing his wife, but I am too harsh on her, and I sneer at this daughter from the bottom of my heart, because Catherine's appearance and personality are ordinary. Besides, he is so rational that he seems heartless. In order to cut off his daughter's contact with her lover, he used cold violence against her, making Catherine, who respected and cared for him since childhood, suffer from the family.
Catherine's lover Thomson is a very attractive man to women. In Catherine's ordinary life, his pursuit penetrates like light. No one has ever pursued it before. Catherine has received such passionate love, and from the hands of such a perfect lover, it is natural to fall in love. And this Thomson is an out-and-out bum, squandering his legacy, living in his sister's house and living by her sister, and living a hard life. He has been looking for a good job, and he can live a rich life without being too tired. So he turned his eyes to Catherine, a rich girl, and Catherine was the "good job" he was looking for. However, because Catherine's father tried to stop it, and said that if they got married, Catherine would not inherit his share of the inheritance. Catherine, who has lost the light of money, is just an ordinary woman without beauty and interest. Townsend finally gave up Catherine and his former Covenant because of the hopelessness of not getting money. ?
The heroine of this book is hard to believe that she is the protagonist at the beginning of the book, because such a mediocre person with no charm and no personality, let alone the protagonist, should never appear in the novel. However, Henry James portrayed such an unattractive person vividly with his excellent details. Although she has nothing to boast about, she is indeed the most blameless character in the whole novel. At first, I respected my father timidly and dared not disobey his words. Later, I met Thomson Cheng, with warm love from my heart, willing to give up the inheritance right for my lover, willing to bear the guilt and pain after the conflict with her father, and silently swallow the bitter fruit after being abandoned by my lover to maintain my final dignity. Henry James' psychological description of the heroine in nuances makes people feel * * * with her gradually, and makes her feel pity.
In the whirlpool of money, love and marriage, the four people come and go sharply, and the choices they make are touching people's hearts, which makes people believe that different personalities lead to different destinies, and no matter what fate they have to bear alone. Readers can condemn the characters' ruthlessness, selfishness, hypocrisy, stupidity and irresponsibility. . . But they can't deny their existence, because no matter what kind of life they choose, they show it in the way they think is the most suitable. Henry James's description is as silent as spring rain, and unconsciously the inner world and external character of the characters are three-dimensional and complete.
This book is not the author's favorite. The Portrait of a Lady, which is somewhat similar to this book, has undoubtedly made greater achievements, but as the entrance to Henry James' creative world, it is very suitable from the perspective of space, language and literature. It was written in the early days, and Henry James's writing style has not yet developed into the legendary obscurity. On the contrary, its language is concise, while its delicate and calm psychological description has begun to take shape. Through this book, readers can get a glimpse of how he explores the "most subtle and hazy" feelings of the characters and transforms the "beating pulse in space" into concrete images.