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"He had never in his life received so absolute a check; he had never been pulled up, or, as he
would have said, 'let down', so short, and he found the sensation intolerable . . ." (257).
chps 15-20
1. does Newman’s reaction to new circumstances inspire readerly sympathy, pity, judgment, apathy, or something else?
2. is Valentin’s volubility in chapter nineteen realistic, given his situation?
3. does Valentin’s concept of honor, reiterated in chapter nineteen (271-73), justify the earlier actions he took in defense of his honor that have landed him in his current predicament? Is he heroic?
4. the narrator tell us that the liveried servant who opens the door to Newman at Fleurières likes and trusts Newman for “indefinable reasons” (277). Does the narrative provide enough evidence to allow the reader to provide a reasonable explanation?
5. Newman is appalled when he learns of Claire’s intended destination (284-85) and claims that such a decision will constitute a defacing of her beauty and a wasting of her nature (285). Which does Newman value more, Claire’s beauty or her “nature”? Consider all the evidence hitherto brought forward.
chps 21-26
1. earlier, Henry James inserted a few thematically relevant literary references to the narrative surrounding Valentin, including Mrs. Tristram comparison of Valentin to the knight of John Keats’s “La Belle Dame sans Merci” back in chapter sixteen (224), and Newman’s chancing upon a copy of Les Liaisons Dangereuses while waiting for his friend’s death (265). Do such insertions feel consistent with James’s prevailing narratological strategy? Does he use such foreshadowing throughout the novel? Are these examples subtle or heavy handed?
2. when Newman takes his leaves of the Tristrams, Mrs. Tristram claims they will meet again in a voice that the narrator marks as either good-natured or cynical (345). There is quite a large difference between these two alternatives. Which seems more likely, given what we have learned of Mrs. Tristram’s motivations earlier on the same page, and what we recall of her from the first few pages of chapter three
3. why does Newman adopt the course of action he does, finally, with relation to the Bellegardes?
4. look back at Newman’s European travels with Babcock (74-79). Is this brief relationship important in interpreting Newman’s experience in Notre Dame (359)?
5. early in the novel, Newman tells Mrs. Tristram, “‘I have the instincts—have them deeply—if I haven’t the forms of a high old civilisation’” (45). Do the events of the novel support his earlier claims?
albumen print of Notre Dame (1853)
Louis-Auguste and Auguste-Rosalie Bisson
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu