The Subtext of Violence in Henry James' The Wings of theDove: The Sacrificial Crisis
A reading of Henry James' 1902 novel The Wings of theDove is particularly fitting for this issue ofSchuylkill for several reasons. This late novel is rife withrepresentations of multiple, often overlapping subject positionsthat the close reader is forced to reckon with. These subjectpositions include, but are not limited to, James as authorand as a self-referring subject of the novel's "Preface,"who perceives and performs outside of the designation of "author."The reader must also consider James' unreliable narrator as asubject who functions as both detached observer and protagonist,and whose equivocal rendering of events includes labyrinthineaccounts of the contents of other character’s consciousness. Andfinally, we the reader, are rendered subject to our own ambivalentinterpretation of events. James complex representation of so manysubject positions has, not surprisingly, earned his late work thereputation of being "difficult." However the student of humansubject formation enjoys a uniquely Jamesian-inspired "jouissance"if he or she is persistent and enjoys a good slow read.
In this paper I hope to show how James offers the reader aparticipatory glimpse into the complex mechanics of human subjectformation. I argue that The Wings of the Dove re-presentswhat anthropological literary critic Rene Girard terms the"sacrificial crisis," an act of violence that is endorsed andenacted by a community--a bloody ritual whose sole purpose is to"restore harmony to the community, to reinforce the socialfabric...and establish order"(8).
According to Rene Girard in Violence and the Sacred,violence proliferates within a community when social distinctionsamong individuals or groups become confused or are contested. Morespecifically, when the established social hierarchy is challengedthrough rivalries, jealousies, quarrels and acts of dissent,community infighting escalates into reciprocal acts of vengeanceand retribution. Community violence is contained, says Girard, bya collectively sanctioned, climactic event--the blood sacrifice.The blood sacrifice is a unanimous yet limited act of violencevented upon that representative of the community who is deemedresponsible for the eruption of internal discord.
In other words, a "scapegoat" is selected by the group. Thissacrificial subst...
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...he processof finding a surrogate victim constitutes a major means... by whichmen expel from their consciousness the truth about their violentnature...(82-83).
The "bad" violence inherent in Kate’s enterprise has notactually been eliminated--the potential for someone else to deviseand successfully execute a similarly ambiguous plan still existsafter we close the book (in fact such a plan is executed by MaggieVerver, the heroine of James last novel The Golden Bowl--thenovel which has been called "the novel to end all novels"). But inThe Wings of the Dove James contains and controls theviolence temporarily, thus taking the place of and serving the sameancient function as the primitive blood sacrifice.
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Brooks, Van Wyck. "Two Phases of Henry James." In TheQuestion of Henry James: A Collection of Essays. Ed. F.W.Dupee. New York: Holt, 1945. 120-27.
Girard, Rene. Violence and the Sacred. Trans. PatrickGregory. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1972.
James, Henry. The Wings of the Dove. Ed. J. DonaldCrowley and Richard A. Hocks. New York: W.W. Norton and Company,1978.
Atticus Finch is the most significant character, in To Kill a Mockingbird, who challenges racial prejudice as he does not follow the norms, in Maycomb, of being racially prejudice towards others. At first, Atticus Finch is reluctant to take on Tom Robinson’s case; however in the end, he willingly accepts. Unlike the majority of Maycomb residents, Atticus is not racist and makes no distinction upon race, he sees Negroes, just like Tom Robinson, as the same equality as any other person in the Maycomb community. For this reason, he believes they should be trea...
Kiefer, Christian. "Unneighborly behavior: Blood Meridian, Lonesome Dove, and the problem of reader sympathy." Southwestern American Literature 33.1 (2007): 39+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 May 2014.
Updike, John. "A & P." Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories. (New York : Knopf, 1962).
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In the 1920s the American agricultural complex embraced the new technologies being developed. The internal combustion engine brought about new tractors and more sophisticated combines and harvesters. These new machines made it possible for
Gene therapy works by introducing new and functioning genetic material to damaged genes to help it function and to produce beneficial proteins. If a gene is inserted directly into a cell, it usually will not function. So to complete this task, a vector, a modified virus is used to carry and deliver the new gene. There are two different categories of vectors than can be utilized in this process; recomb...
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...ely with one another and lived in peace as partners, the ease of human transgression permits no romanticized view of this Agolden age.@ Finally B and this is a much more fragmentary conceptualization B the story refuses its hearers the luxury of demonizing, suppressing or repressing violence. Violence is not something that others do to us, but something we inflict upon others. The story consequently demands that we confront and internalize deeply the consequences of violence, and in this alone offers a profoundly important model of response.
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Felty, Darren. “Overview of ‘In the Time of the Butterflies’.” Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Sept. 2012.
The leading model, Monetary Model links exchange rate movements to the balance of payment, which is used for medium to long term analysis. The following assumptions cons...
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This theory is not only credible in literature, to discuss the intentions of an author, but is also effectively used in film, to discuss the intentions of a director. One benefit of this theory is that it can help with many literary problems. For example, Freudian critics not only “stress distinction between the conscious and the unconscious”, but also uncover “the unconscious motives of characters” as well as see “an embodiment of classic psychoanalytic conditions” within literary works (Barry 101). By drawing connections between concepts in the text, we are able to further enrich our understanding of the work and, if we plan to discuss it with others, are able to yield a meaningful, coherent interpretation of the
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