Do not know how to love: goo.gl/9u3URG by Henry Edmund Eagland MORLEY https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9 The underlying issue in Washington Square is that the characters do not know how to love? Why is this so? en-us 2017-10-25 08:30:42 UTC 2025-09-24 17:01:37 UTC hello@padlet.com New Yorker article emorley3 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200305852 2017-10-25 08:34:41 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200305852 emorley3 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306119 While both Dr Sloper and Morris Townsend are described as very intelligent, they both underestimate Catherine’s potential as a heroine – as James wants them and the reader to, too, it seems. Catherine may not be the most blessed with abilities that heroines usually have but she has endurance and strength and it seems that these wear down the patience of both men. She is, in the end, the one who endures, the one who does not regret and lives her life – a very small and insignificant one – on her own terms. Her father has died, trapped in his own illusion that his daughter might still marry Townsend after his death and unable to prevent it. Townsend stands as a complete fool, urged by Catherine’s aunt, as he tries to reconnect with the woman twenty years after their broken engagement.]]> 2017-10-25 08:35:44 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306119 emorley3 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306216 Finish reading The New Yorker article. Do you believe that the underlying issue in Washington Square is that the characters do not know how to love? Why is this so?]]> 2017-10-25 08:36:11 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306216 emorley3 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306377 Today Catherine ought rightly be called an independent woman, one who decides against having not to be defined as a victim. Suffer she does, but not to the point that it bends her spirit. (foreword page xxiii Washington Square Henry James Penguin Classics.)
With this quote in mind re-read the final chapter, XXV. What is your view?
Is Catherine the only one of the main characters who has evolved at all?
]]> 2017-10-25 08:36:50 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306377 emorley3 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306509 2017-10-25 08:37:20 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/200306509 Is Catherine the only character that has evolved? quinnfon https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201073924 Clever in his profesional life, not clever in his personal life
She doesn't want his money > he won't be ruling her life, even in death > she controls her own life
Who's life is unlived: Sloper obsesses over money, Morris is a leech, Catherine chooses her own life
The main conflict of the novel is that Catherine in her submissiveness is surrounded by people who want to make decisions for her. All of these characters have their own agenda in doing so, whether that be Morris and Dr Sloper's obsession with her assets, or Ms Penniman's desire to feel love vicariously through Catherine. The struggle for Catherine is to make a decision that is her own, and not allow her will to be bent by those around her. In this, Catherine is forced to change, and her evolution allows her to overcome this difficulty, and take control of her life. In contrast to this, the characters around her are unable to change.]]> 2017-10-27 02:38:39 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201073924 Is Catherine the only one of the main characters who has evolved at all? https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201073964 Yes, as even in Dr. Sloper’s death, his view of Catherine does not change, (still that simple, dull, and unintelligent girl that disappoints him with her choices in her own life), and his alteration of his will cements the idea that he still is unsatisfied with his daughter, untrusting of her intelligence to make the decisions he deems correct, and wishes to control his daughter’s life even when he is dead.

On the other hand, Morris Townsend approaches Catherine after learning of the doctor’s death, and after his desertion of her, carrying the same expectations of her character, that she will continue to love him despite how he had treated her previously, and that she will continue to remain naive and ignorant to his true motives. This foolishness is met with shock towards his rejection as he has not once considered Catherine’s growth in cruelty, and her ability to comprehend the main motivations of wooing her. 
]]> 2017-10-27 02:39:05 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201073964 Catherine is the only character who has evolved. 0308003 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074018 Catherine changes from being an idealistic girl who desires love to a bitter, jaded woman who refuses to enter marriage, as she believes that men would only want her for her money. Dr. Sloper remains stubborn and patriarchal throughout the novel, while Mrs. Penniman is still a romantic who vicariously lives through Catherine and Morris's relationship, and still urges Morris to pursue a relationship with Catherine at the end of the novel. Morris does not evolve either, as he persists in his greed and spendthrift behaviour, as demonstrated by how he claims to have run out of passage money to return to Washington Square, and how he goes back to Catherine in hopes that she would agree to marry him after the death of her father.]]> 2017-10-27 02:39:42 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074018 0106010 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074082 One idea that is discussed in the New Yorker article is the notion that the characters are 'all soul', the opposite of cardboard. From this perspective, we can interpret Mrs. Penniman, Dr Sloper, and Morris Townsend as representations of ideals and desires rather than characters that develop throughout the story like Catherine. ]]> 2017-10-27 02:40:15 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074082 0106002 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074100 In this final chapter, we see the manifestations of Catherine's development in character. She is finally able to understand Morris' ulterior motives by detaching herself from Dr. Sloper and Mrs. Penniman's views, by rejecting Morris. However, Morris and Dr. Sloper attitudes remain constant throughout ("lives unlived").]]> 2017-10-27 02:40:22 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074100 0207004 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074139 I believe that Catherine has evolved in the sense that she is no longer deceived by Morris and blinded by her father--she is able to perceive Morris’ unscrupulous nature through his abandonment of her, and she successfully frees herself from being controlled by her father. Previously, Catherine stated that her “greatest desire was to please” her father, suggesting that her attitude towards her father consisted mostly of reverence and fear, but after the events of the novel, she is able to view her father and Morris in a more critical light. Towards the end of the novel, Sloper remains concerned that Catherine will marry Morris even after his death, Morris is defeated after his confrontation with Catherine after Sloper's death. Instead, it is Catherine who is able to endure and take control of her own life, unlike Sloper and Morris, whose intentions are ultimately foiled (

]]> 2017-10-27 02:40:49 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074139 0106039 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074189 The novel is about the cultivation of an identity, and finding oneself—even though one has been buried for so long. Catherine lives a half-life. She is burdened with her mother’s name and cannot hope to live up to her brilliance. By the time she is 18, she is “quiet and irresponsive,” because “she was shy, uncomfortably, painfully shy.” Catherine undergoes significant change upon her meeting with Morris Townsend. She, who is "much addicted to speaking the truth",  lies to her father, whom she fears and respects, for the first time. Part of Catherine’s development also marks her slowly becoming “clever.”]]> 2017-10-27 02:41:17 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074189 https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074470 She has evolved in the sense that she developed some heroic qualities towards the end of the novel. Although she is wronged by both her father and Morris Townsend, she forgives them both, which in itself is admirable and telling of great character. We also admire her strength for refusing Morris Townsend near the story’s end, as well as the courage it must have taken for her not to back down from her oppressive father. However, Dr. Sloper and Morris Townsend's attitudes remain the same in the end of the novel. ]]> 2017-10-27 02:44:05 UTC https://padlet.com/emorley3/6qadriejm2h9/wish/201074470