The Ambassadors | Themes

Disillusionment
Strether runs a gauntlet of disillusioning circumstances on his journey to wakefulness and clear sight. Strether realizes that “to be right” he must see things as they are. Right things are seen and understood clearly. “The wrong . . . was the obscure.” In Woollett, this means seeing things according to Mrs. Newsome’s definitions. Strether’s actual experiences force him to disavow Mrs. Newsome’s theories while maintaining the definitions of right and wrong. That means sacrificing all preconceived notions derived from books,...

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