Washington Square Symbolism and Character Essay

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Catherine, meanwhile, is drawn to warmth, symbolized by the fire in the room at the time she is telling her father of Mr. Townsend. She (or perhaps the narrator; it is left ambiguous) even notes that the fire is warmer than her father's eyes and fixed smile, and finds the relief, comfort, and perhaps even the familiarity in the fire that she cannot find in her father or in his reaction to her announcement, which is not well received. Catherine is as much a creature of the heart as Dr. Sloper is of the mind, and while his evening paper is the object in the room with which he is shown to have a connection, for Catherine it is the fire. Their different temperaments are also clearly visible in their summations of Mr. Townsend's character; Dr. Sloper sees the calculation of his past as his "chief feature," while Catherine sees his emotional qualities.

The symbolism in this scene does more than simply enhance the characters; it is also used -- as it is used throughout the book -- to show the relative relations of these characters to one another. For Catherine even more than for Dr. Sloper, the conversation that takes place in this scene is a difficult one. It is more difficult for her because she is emotionally connected to it, and she enters knowing that her disappointment could only be greater than his, with his coolly calculating manner.

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This is all hinted at quite early in the scene, when Catherine first knocks on the door of his study, "a ceremony without which she never crossed the threshold of this apartment." This action and its eternal and prohibitive qualities symbolize the rift that already exists between father and daughter. The two come from very different worlds, or at least very different worldviews, and she cannot even cross threshold into his world -- the intellectual world -- without his permission. It is almost as though he is the cause of her extremely emotional demeanor, through his exertion of utter dominance and control over her intellectual processes and patterns.

There are, of course, many other instances of symbolism throughout Washington Square that help to define the characters and other elements in the story. The examples here are all contained within a few brief pages, yet they help to fully illuminate the two central characters of the novel and their position to each other, as well as the tensions and emotions specific to the scene itself. Almost every detail James presents in this work can be tied to a character, event, or both in a symbolic way, adding to the wonderful richness and fullness of the book and its characters......

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