Posted by Cassia on July 16, 1997 at 17:53:17:
In reply to Re: While We're Hanging Out with Kind of Chickie...Washington Square posted by Luisa on July 15, 1997 at 10:11:50
] ] I read Henry James' Washington Square , the heroine is one of those highly moral chickies. I can't manke the woman out. I don't understand what she wanted. I think this is a good selection for this page and it has the advantage of being much, much shorter than Jane Eyre! ;-)
] I loved that book. I thought it was intensely dramatic, but very comic at times, I liked the way the father figure was portrayed and the realistic ending. Catherine Sloper is a tragic figure and I felt very sympathetic towards her, sp. when Morris leaves. I think it`s very understandable the way she fights against her Dad, not antagonizing him directly (she loves him after all), but biding her time relentlessly.
] Henry James is a great author. Daisy Miller is another very short novella, but also vivid and impressive, After Bronte and Austen, James is a favourite with me.
________
The thing I can't comprehend is that she loves him even though he doesn't value her at all! Even before Morris enters the scene he's carrying on about her never being able to attract a husband. He is not kind to her and shows her something to contempt. He doesn't relent because he must prove himself right in his "scientific" obsevations. He is a great brat of a bully to his daughter, and never once takes his daughter's feeling into consideration. Someone should definately remake this into a mini. although the Montgomery Clift/Olivia de Haviland version still has legs. It is great story but a longer version would allow everyone to see what a nasty man Dr. Sloper is. I loathe the man.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.