The American

Summary

The American, serialized in the Atlantic Monthly in 1876-77, is Henry James's early novel of a self-made American meeting the old aristocracy of France. Christopher Newman, about thirty-five, has made a fortune in manufacturing and business in the American West and comes to Paris to enjoy it. In the Louvre he buys a copy of a painting from the pretty copyist Noémie Nioche, and he tells his friends the Tristrams that what he wants now is a wife, a great woman, the best article in the market. Mrs. Tristram introduces him to her friend Claire de Cintré, a gentle widow of the ancient and proud Bellegarde family. Newman courts her openly and honestly, and the Bellegardes, who despise commerce but need money, reluctantly accept him. He wins the friendship of Claire's younger brother Valentin, a charming and idle nobleman. Then the family turns against him. The old Marquise and her elder son Urbain cannot bear to see Claire marry a businessman, and they break off the engagement. Valentin, meanwhile, fights a pointless duel over Noémie and is mortally wounded; before he dies, he begs Newman's pardon for his family and hints at a secret. Claire, unable to defy her mother, enters a strict Carmelite convent. From the old servant Mrs. Bread, Newman learns that the Marquise and Urbain caused the death of the old Marquis, Claire's father, and he obtains a written statement proving it. He has the means to disgrace them in society, but in the end, standing before the convent wall and later by a fire in Mrs. Tristram's house, he burns the paper and gives up revenge. The novel contrasts American openness and energy with European tradition and pride, and it ends not with a wedding but with a moral victory. Its unhappy ending was unusual for its time, and James later said that a real Bellegarde family would probably have accepted Newman's money.

Top Lessons

• The American character

  Newman is frank, generous and confident. James asks what Americans bring to Europe and what they cannot understand.

• Honor and pride

  The Bellegardes speak of honor but act dishonorably. Valentin dies for a false idea of honor.

• Giving up revenge

  Newman could ruin the family but burns the evidence. The ending makes forgiveness, or at least restraint, the real victory.

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