Where in the story are the narrator's wishes made known? The old lady does have complete control, yes, but are the daughters happy with it? Jane does go to Europe and is so happy she never goes home again, so the old lady says her daughter is dead. Becky wants to go to Europe, but dies before she can get away from her mother, so the mother says she has gone to Europe. Apparently she thinks if her daughters escape her control one way or another, it's all the same - they have gone out of her control.
Now, where is the conflict in this? Where does the narrator come into it except to tell the tale?
In the short story "Europe" by Henry James, is the greater conflict between Mrs. Rimmie and her daughters or between Mrs rimmie and the narrator?
In my opinion I think its between the narrator and Mrs. Rimmie because the daughters are under their moms control and they Believe everything she tells them to , so they are not a problem but on the other hand it feels the narrator wants the girls to go to Europe because he knows that the mother doesn't want them to?
I need help because I don't know if I'm right and I don't know what else to add to my response And how to explain it properly, thanks :)
4 answers
Well the daughters never go against their mothers will, the listen and obey and I Honeslty feel they r blind in her control because they believed their mother was sick and didn't go to Europe when they were supposed to, Jane goes and doesn't come back but that's because she goes with a family friend. There's no point in the story where u feel the daughters are unhappy because they listen to their mother and make their own conscious desision not to go. Meanwhile the narrator understands why they are unable to go and encourages the daughters to go, which in my mind makes me think that the mother feels the narrator is pressuring them to go .
So, the story is about the mother's control over her daughters, what some might consider an evil control. The daughters, except Jane, have no say in the matter because their mother manipulates them. It's not a conflict between two people as in what to cook for dinner or something obvious like that. The conflict is made clear when Jane does go and does not want to return (to her mother's control?). It's also made clear when the others decide to make the trip, and their mother gets very conveniently "sick", therefore preventing them from doing what they want to do.
The story is rather like Hawthorne's stories of New England Puritanism and the pressure to conform, with no free will. In fact, that's what James said about the story when he wrote an introduction for it. It's about control of society and/or the family, and what negative consequences might result. It may also be about hypocrisy in that the mother's trip to Europe was the highlight of her life, but she won't let her daughters have a similar experience.
But, every piece of literature (except non-fiction) is subject to the reader's own interpretation.
The story is rather like Hawthorne's stories of New England Puritanism and the pressure to conform, with no free will. In fact, that's what James said about the story when he wrote an introduction for it. It's about control of society and/or the family, and what negative consequences might result. It may also be about hypocrisy in that the mother's trip to Europe was the highlight of her life, but she won't let her daughters have a similar experience.
But, every piece of literature (except non-fiction) is subject to the reader's own interpretation.
Wow , I never actually thought of it that way.. That changed my whole perspective on the story and it makes way more sense now, thank u so much :)
7 answers