The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Welcome to Week 2!

Has your opinion changed on any of the initial characters so far?

Did any of the characters (or their actions) surprise you?

What do you think of the Tarrants?

How would you describe Verena’s “gift”?

Why does Olive want to “save” Verena, and what/who from?

What does Olive want from Verena?

From what/whom does Basil believe Verena should be protected, and why?

What are Olive’s plans for Basil and Mrs. Luna?

The Tarrants, especially Tarrant père—and of course he controls the tenor and activities of the whole family—seem to be, using the word James employs, mountebanks. Mr. Tarrant moves from one type of tent-meeting chicanery to another, following the shifting fashions in self-deception. He sees Verena’s gift for free-associative gab as opening another money-making opportunity for the family among a new set of people who might be impervious to his spiritualist and faith-healing shticks. Mrs. Tarrant sees her as an avenue into a higher class of society. Both are trying to use Verena.

The question remains a bit open, I think, whether Olive wants to use Verena. She clearly wants to save her from her father’s traveling-show uses, but is it only to use her in turn to promote the causes Olive cares about? Probably is my current judgment. Olive’s use for the girl is a degree less heinous than her parents’ because it is for a cause the girl appears to believe in rather than for financial or social gain; but it seems very questionable whether Verena really believes in feminism or has simply picked up the cant of the cause in some quasi-speaking-in-tongues fashion. People in Henry James’s day might classify this phenomenon as a form of hysteria, though I shudder to use the word.

As for Basil, his motives seem less clear but apparently tend toward the self-serving as well. I doubt he has clear motives; he seems merely to be following an instinct to rescue a pretty girl from the fevered worlds of causes and scams—but what will happen to her if she is freed from her parents, or from Olive? I doubt he knows or, at this point, cares much. He simply has a hazy idea about what “normal” is, and thinks Verena should have access to that.

As she sends Basil off with Mrs. Luna, I think Olive just wants to be rid of him! Not sure she has plans beyond that point.

People using others to serve their own egos and ends does seem to be emerging as a theme of this book. The propensity to do so and the hazards of acting on that impulse.

I find Olive confounding. We are told she is very shy and we see that when she is at the meeting. But with Verena, she is impetuously outgoing. They just met and Olive demands Verena become her best friend and even suggests she move in with her.

In this case, Bostonians are a certain type of reformer/intellectual. But is there any connection to the term "Boston marriage" where 2 women live together in an unannounced relationship? It seems like both Olive and Basil have fallen in love with Verena, for different reasons.

There is a lot about class in this book. Verena's mother pushes her to visit Olive, and the reformers want to use Olive to get adherents from a higher social class.

James’s depicts Verena’s effect on Basil brilliantly. He finds her irresistible whilst hearing her talk what sounds like absolute twaddle.

Olive’s controlling—even borderline predatory—attitude toward Verena is such a surprising development, just the opposite of what I was expecting. Last week I thought Olive needed protection from Mrs. Farrinder, who expressed an interest in taking away her money—and, I assume, her means of living independently. And I saw Verena, as a member of the Tarrant family, as likely to present some similar threat to Olive. But now, with whiplash suddenness, the roles are reversed and Verena appears to need some protection from Olive.

As to Olive’s motive, I’m wondering whether it might not have something to do with jealousy. She approaches Mrs. Farrinder wanting to do, to be of use; but can’t do either of the things Mrs. Farrinder proposes. Olive can neither establish the kind of social connections Mrs. Farrinder wants her to establish, nor speak eloquently. All she can do is donate. When Verena steps up and demonstrates that she can do one of the two needed things, Olive is demonstrably upset . . . and immediately proposes absorbing Verena and Verena’s talent into her own household. She sees someone with something she doesn’t have but wants, and loses no time in seeking dominance over that person. She seems to want that person to step inside and become part of her, filling in the gaps, as she perceives them, of her own insufficiency. It’s childish and also creepy.

Lori wrote: ".What does Olive want from Verena?"
Olive is exceedingly smitten with Verena and, like a Basil in a different book, has fallen in love on first sight. At least Olive is smitten by some personality factors in addition to superficial appearance reasons. Under the social confines, what Olive wants most from Verena for now is to be her companion and protégé.

Lori wrote: "How would you describe Verena’s “gift”?"
It appears to me that Verena's skill seems to be able to talk in a manner that, combined with her appearance, anything she says, even if drivel, seems ethereal and profound. I guess her basic skill is to make everyone want her around them.
But I could be reading things wrong on both counts.

Without sounding alarming, these few chapters make it seem as if the novel is turning into a child exploitation story.

We now know (chillingly) more about Verena’s parents. Mr. Tarrant is a scoundrel and fraudster and his pathetic wife deliberately turns a blind eye. The fact that she sees her daughter as someone who
“...was born not only to lead their common sex out of bondage, but to remodel a visiting-list which bulged and contracted in the wrong places, like a country-made garment.” reveals not only her double standards but her own selfish, exploitative aspirations. Not only does she act complicity in her husband’s mesmeric frauds but also fully complies when he moves house to be close to ‘needy’ lady clients.

Verena needs to be out of that frying pan, but would the ‘fire’ of Olive Chancellor’s aspirations be any better? Olive’s obsessive personality has quickly ditched Mrs. Farrinder as her hero ( she didn’t even stop to hear her speak at Mrs. Birdseye’s) and is now worshipping the idol that is Verena. Olive’s power comes through her riches and Verena is obviously dazzled by that, but will she end up as a slave to her benefactress instead of her parents? Miss Tarrant the conversationalist as a visitor at Olive’s apartment seems very different from the orator at Mrs. Birdseye’s. However, the innocent girl in the colourful clothes has already noticed one or two possible difficulties about a future with Olive even though she has agreed to be her friend.

Basil has no interest, it seems, in Verena’s words, which he believes is just a theatrical script she has been taught to read parrot fashion. He has been enchanted by her appearance and superficial charm, which seemed genuine. However, the author tells us that maybe Basil was unaware that....
.....the bearings of this interpretation..... attributed to Miss Tarrant a singular hollowness of character; he contented himself with believing that she was as innocent as she was lovely, and with regarding her as a vocalist of exquisite faculty, condemned to sing bad music. How prettily, indeed, she made some of it sound!
Verena accuses Basil of treating women like toys, but his earnest approach and request to see her again indicates that he is not playing around when it comes to getting to know Verena better.

Is there any steel hiding beneath the innocent outward appearance of Miss Tarrant or is her vulnerability all too clear?

I think if Verena were alive today, she'd be classified as a motivational speaker and be invited to speak at big corporations or rallies on social issues. Motivational speakers don't often tell you anything you don't already know, but they can excite a crowd or word things in a way that is inspiring or, well, motivating. There might be some in the audience who, like Basil Ransome, think it's "twaddle," but it's valuable to many others.

I thought more of the speakers at tent revival meetings who arouse passions in the audience, get them to convert, donate, etc. But maybe motivational speakers are our modern equivalent (especially the ones who tell people how to get rich!)

Lori wrote: "Welcome to Week 2!

What are Olive’s plans for Basil and Mrs. Luna?
"

I think Olive first contacted Basil because of family duty, but she now sees him as a potential rival. She is seems frightened of his ability to oppose her views and now with Verena on the scene may also consider him a rival for Verena’s affections. Her sister is obviously attracted to Basil and Olive hopes that will be enough of a distraction to keep him out of the way. That will depend upon how important Verena is to Basil.

So far to me it seems that the narrator of this story sees everything with detached irony. He does not take anyone very seriously. Olive is not very sympathetic, with her out of control emotions towards Verena, whom she only heard speaking once, and who basically is an unknown entity for her. She immediately wants to be the savior of Verena and offers her to move in with her. It remains to be seen if the reasons for this become clearer. Basil falls for Verena as well, he likes women, being the chivalrous Southern gentleman. Is there more to it than that? Olive thinks so, she immediately sees him as a rival, she wants Verena all to herself. And Verena is still a child, does not understand any of it, just instinctively feels occurring problems. It will be interesting to see how this develops.