CliffsNotes on James' The American

Cliff Notes

• Éditeur: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• ISBN:
  9780544179493
• Édition: 0
• Sujet: Study Aids
• Sous-sujet: Study Guides

Chapter I

Summary

On a day in May 1868, Christopher Newman was observing a young lady in the Louvre Museum making a copy of a famous painting. He was the type of American who often admired the copy as much as the original. He appeared to be perfectly relaxed and was, at thirty-five, at the peak of his physical health.

He only knew a few words of French and asked the young lady the price of her painting. He asked her to write the amount down, and when she wrote 2000 francs, he knew that she was asking much more than the picture was worth, but he told her to finish it and he would buy it. She wondered if he was kidding her, but Newman assured her, as best he could, that he was serious. At this time, the young lady’s father, who could speak some English, appeared. The father was the “image of shabby gentility.” He had had severe losses in business and had lost his courage. The father, Monsieur Nioche, arranges to bring the picture to Newman as soon as it is finished and dried. As they are about to leave, his daughter, Mademoiselle Noémie, suggests to her father that he offer to teach Newman the French language. Newman had never thought of himself as being capable of learning French, but he is pleased with the idea and it is arranged that M. Nioche will come to him, take morning coffee, and converse in French.

Analysis

As is typical in a James novel, it begins with the emphasis on the character placed in a certain situation and then allowing the situation to develop according to the nature of the character. As an individual, one of Newman’s greatest attributes will be his natural and unpretentious honesty and forthrightness. His naturalness will later be contrasted with the European emphasis on formality and ceremony. Newman is seen here stretched out and reclining at ease as he watches the people making their copies. His ability to relax and to lounge, characterizes him as an American.

Newman’s innocence and lack of experience are also suggested in this first chapter. As James characterizes him, Newman had “often admired the copy much more than the original.” Thus, one of the things he must learn is to distinguish the worth of the original from that of the copy. In terms of the entire novel, he will later learn that Mademoiselle Noémie and her father are copies that he has overestimated, but this will be part of Newman’s learning experience. Another of his qualities here emphasized is that he knew he was being overcharged for the copy, but did not seem to mind. He has a large soul which takes into account little discrepancies in people and is not bothered by them.

The quality most strongly emphasized is Newman’s strangeness to these surroundings. Even though he is physically strong, the trip through the museum has almost exhausted him. This suggests that Newman is doing something that he is not accustomed to doing. In other words, as his name implies, he is the “newman” discovering the old world. He is in a situation that is new and strange to him and we must watch to see how he reacts in these new situations. He is reversing the voyage made by his name sake, Christopher Columbus.

Newman is later to learn that Mademoiselle Noémie is a flirt. The reader should be aware of this by the way James describes her glances at Newman. James will often devote a great deal of energy to describing his minor characters. M. Nioche is seen as a cringing man who has lost his courage. He is overly polite and obsequious, but for the first part of the novel, Newman is somewhat deceived about his character. Thus, part of Newman’s education will involve his arriving at a recognition of M. Nioche’s exact qualities.

Chapter II

Summary

Having bought his first picture, Newman felt a sense of difference and accomplishment. He then began to look around for another picture to buy, even though he knew he had paid too much for the first one. Then he noticed a man who looked familiar, and went over to him. It was Tom Tristram, a man Newman had known some years ago during the war. In their discussions, we hear that Newman has been in Europe seventeen days, and that Tristram has been living here for six years, but this is the first time that Tristram has been inside the Louvre. Newman can’t understand this, because Tristram has just said that he knows Paris very well. But Tristram doesn’t consider this the real Paris.

Tristram leads Newman out to a nearby café for coffee and a smoke. Newman envies Tristram for having a wife and home, but Tristram maintains that Paris is a place to be without a wife. Newman, however, suggests that he has lived alone long enough and would like to get married. He tells Tristram that he has made enough money now that he wants to see Europe and learn something about the world. He has come abroad to amuse himself, but he wonders if he knows how. Tristram volunteers to take him to an American club where they can play poker, but Newman revolts at this idea. He wants to hear fine music and see lovely sights and visit museums, churches, etc. Tristram doesn’t really understand such “refined tastes,” and Newman explains how two months ago, he was in competition with a man who had once done him a dirty trick. Newman was then in the position of making this man lose a large sum of money, but on his way to the stock market to close a deal, he became disgusted with the entire affair. He knew that if he didn’t carry it through, he would lose sixty thousand dollars, but on the spur of the moment, he told his carriage driver to turn around, thus losing the sixty thousand. It was then that he decided to get out of business and learn to live, and this is why he came to Europe.

A man who could do something like that is outside of Tristram’s comprehension, and he tells Newman that he must come and meet Mrs. Tristram who can understand him somewhat better.

Analysis

One of James’ techniques as a writer is the use of contrast. The character of Tristram is used as a contrast to Newman. By seeing another American who devotes himself to playing poker in American clubs and who has never come to one of the great art galleries, we form already a better picture of Christopher Newman.

James sums him up in one short stroke of the pen: “He looked like a person who would willingly shake hands with any one.” In other words, Tristram is a person who has no taste, no wit, and not a great deal of intelligence. In his discussions of Europe, we see that Newman has learned more and profited more in seventeen days than Tristram has in six years.

We learn much more about Newman in this chapter. We see that he is a person who has the “desire, as he would have phrased it, to see the thing through.” This is a typical Jamesian phrase used to suggest that Newman is the type of person who likes to investigate and delve into all aspects of life. Thus, James’ novel also delves into every aspect of his subject before he finishes. Newman is also a person who, in the face of many difficulties did “see the thing through.”

Furthermore, we find that Newman has made enough money so that he never has to work again. James always has characters who have enough money that they can devote themselves to refining their native talents, but notice that James refrains from saying exactly how much Newman has. This is left up to the imagination of the reader.

Another technique that James uses frequently is that of foreshadowing. In terms of the entire novel, Newman will later relinquish his great chance to get revenge on the Bellegarde family and will destroy a letter that could destroy the Bellegardes. This final action of the novel is foreshadowed by Newman’s action with his business rival who had once played “a very mean trick” on him. Newman could have achieved a magnificent revenge on this man, but the idea of revenge filled him with mortal disgust. Thus, this scene prepares us for Newman’s actions at the end of the novel. In other words, the reader should not be surprised at Newman’s final action when we remember that part of his nature is revolted by the idea of revenge.

Furthermore, Newman says in this chapter that he wants “The best. I know the best can’t be had for mere money, but I rather think money will do a good deal.” The best later turns out to be Claire de Cintré but it is also true that money is not enough to obtain her. As Newman keeps searching for the best, we must eventually realize that only within Newman himself is there the best for which he searches.

Chapter III

Summary

On the next day, Tristram took Newman home to meet Mrs. Tristram. Newman was fond of the company of women and welcomed the opportunity. Mrs. Tristram had a “marked tendency to irony.” She had a very plain face, and had decided years ago to attempt to develop a great deal of charm to compensate for her lack of beauty. She had once been in love with a clever man who slighted her, and she “married a fool” out of some type of revenge, but she possessed “a spark of the sacred fire.”

After a few talks with Mrs. Tristram, Newman and she became “fast friends.” In their closer associations, he rapidly noticed that the Tristrams were not compatible. He also realized that the fault lay with Tom Tristram who seemed to live an idle and useless life.

As their acquaintance deepened, Mrs. Tristram often felt the need “to do something with” Newman. She pried information from him with the hope of discovering some way she could help him, but he seemed terribly self-contained. Finally, she told him one day that she would “like to put him in a difficult place.” After Mrs. Tristram tells Newman that he flatters her patriotism, she refuses to explain what she means, but advises him to always act naturally. If he is ever in a difficult situation, he is to do what comes naturally for him. Newman protests that there are so “many forms and ceremonies over here,” but this is what Mrs. Tristram means—for Newman to cut through the rituals and come to the basic truth.

For the first time during their friendship, Mrs. Tristram brings up the subject of marriage. Newman tells her that he is anxious to marry, but wants to marry well, and he will be hard to please. His wife “must be a magnificent woman.” Mrs. Tristram tells him that a perfect wife for him is already found and that she will bring them together. Mrs. Tristram asks him if he has a prejudice against European women, and Newman explains that he would marry anyone if the person pleased him.

In describing the person, who is named Claire de Cintré, Mrs. Tristram explains that Claire is not a great beauty, but “simply the loveliest woman in the world.” She is not a “beauty, but she is beautiful” and she is half English and half French. Mrs. Tristram will not give an exact description, but maintains that “she is perfect.” She warns Newman that Madame de Cintré has already been married once and doesn’t want to be married again. It is Newman’s job to make her change her mind.

At this point, Tristram breaks in and says that Madame de Cintré is a woman who is quite proud and haughty and not very good-looking. Her looks are the kind that one must “be intellectual to understand.” Some days later, Newman is calling on the Tristrams, and he accidently discovers Madame de Cintré as she is about to leave. With Mrs. Tristram’s help, he is able to extract an invitation from this grand lady. After she leaves, Newman admits that she has a handsome face, but thinks she is more shy than proud. A few days later, he goes to the home, but is told by someone that “Madame de Cintré is not at home.” As Newman leaves, he discovers that the man, who had seemed haughty to him, was actually Madame de Cintré’s oldest brother.

Analysis

This chapter is devoted to introducing Mrs. Tristram who will play such an important role in the novel. She will become Newman’s confidante, and she will be the person who will introduce Newman to Claire de Cintré.

Essentially, Mrs. Tristram’s function is to bring out certain characteristics of Newman and to illuminate the main character in some ways. She talks to him and by her probing questions we learn more about Newman as a character. She is also a complete contrast to her husband. It does not take Newman or the reader long to decide that Mrs. Tristram is far superior to her husband. For all of her faults, James still writes about her that she had “a spark of the sacred fire.” This means that she belongs to the better type of people in the world.

In this chapter, James continues to use foreshadowing and irony. She says to Newman that she would like to put him in a difficult situation. Actually, by introducing Newman to Claire de Cintré, she involves him in a very difficult situation. Furthermore, she says that in six months she will see Newman in a fine fury, and Newman’s pains and tumult that he endures at the hands of the Bellegardes are enough to put him in a fury.

James is also concerned with American innocence as opposed to European experience. This is first seen developing in this chapter. Mrs. Tristram advises Newman to always act naturally in all situations. This is Newman’s (and the American’s) great attribute—the ability to act naturally, but in Europe Newman is confronted with “so many forms and ceremonies.” Thus the difference between the American’s naturalness and the European’s experience will be seen on one level to be the difference between naturalness and formality, or between spontaneity as opposed to form and ceremony.

We also first hear of the fabulous Claire de Cintré in this chapter. There are two opposing views of her from the very beginning. First of all, Newman, in describing the woman he wants for a wife, says that she “must be a beautiful woman perched on the pile, like a statue on a monument.” This is ironic because this description fits a woman who is not natural, who is more a work of art than a natural woman. Even Mrs. Tristram refers to her as “of a different clay.” Tom Tristram says she is a “great white doll of a woman.” Thus, James is already beginning to suggest that Claire de Cintré represents qualities that suggest art, form, and perfection rather than simplicity and naturalness.

We are also warned that Claire de Cintré’s family are “terrible people” who are “mounted upon stilts a mile high, and with pedigrees long in proportion.” We hear also that she has been married once and doesn’t want to be married again. Thus, James is creating a situation where Newman will have to function in a manner and in a way that he has never before encountered. Thus, part of the suspense of the novel comes from our desire to see how this exceptional American will handle this completely new situation.

When Tom Tristram and Mrs. Tristram disagree about the value of Claire de Cintré, we, the readers, are already prepared to accept Mrs. Tristram’s judgment of the situation, but we should not dismiss all that Tom Tristram says. When he comments that one must be intellectual to understand Claire de Cintré’s beauty, he has accidently hit upon an important truth. Of course, Tom Tristram is not intellectual and therefore cannot understand Claire’s beauty. Therefore, when Newman does respond, it suggests further qualities about the hero.

Mrs. Tristram tells Newman that he is “horribly western” and at the same time tells him that he “flatters” her patriotism. This implies a great deal about Newman. He is horribly western, because he is the natural man who is not affected by the manners, forms, and ceremonies of European society, but at the same time, Mrs. Tristram sees in Newman all of the good qualities that are represented by the American man and thus Newman flatters her ...