{"id":520,"date":"2020-09-19T02:13:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T02:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=520"},"modified":"2020-09-19T02:13:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-19T02:13:19","slug":"ultimately-who-screwed-this-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2020\/09\/19\/ultimately-who-screwed-this-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultimately, Who Screwed This Up?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs I have already had occasion to relate, he was angry at finding himself reduced to chopping logic about this young lady; he was vexed at his want of instinctive certitude as to how far her eccentricities were generic, national, and how far they were personal. From either view of them he had somehow missed her, and now it was too late. She was \u2018carried away\u2019 by Mr. Giovanelli.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the use of \u2018either\u2019 refers to any of the three explanations above (generic, national, personal)<\/span>\u00a0(OED I.4)<\/span>\u00a0then the narrator offers three explanati<\/span>ons for Daisy\u2019s behavior: that it is so generalized as to be unrelated to her intent or motivation, that it is a national characteristic of Americans, or that it is a personal trait which she exhibits to a specific and unusual degree. I<\/span>f \u2018either\u2019 groups \u2018generic\u2019 and \u2018national\u2019 into one set, and \u2018personal\u2019 as the second option (as is\u00a0<\/span>perhaps suggested but not\u00a0<\/span>convincing<\/span>ly proven by the division of \u201chow far…\u201d across the list) then\u00a0<\/span>national traits become generic\u2014but only, as the text proves by Daisy\u2019s ostracization,\u00a0<\/span>explicitly<\/span>\u00a0noted earlier in this passage\u2014within the\u00a0<\/span>physical space<\/span><\/i>\u00a0of that nation (it cannot be among\u00a0<\/span>all members<\/span><\/i>\u00a0of that nation or\u00a0<\/span>Americans like Winterbourne and Mrs. Walker would not be so scandalized<\/span>\u00a0(<\/span>yes, you could<\/span>\u00a0argue that \u201cwe have been here too long\u201d negates the suggestion of the<\/span>m\u00a0<\/span>possessing<\/span>\u00a0American points of view<\/span>… but then why does Mrs. Walker continue to study Europeans \u201clike textbooks\u201d at her parties? If her point of view has been shifted to be entirely Eurocentric<\/span>\u00a0and European-<\/span>esque<\/span>, then continued study would be\u00a0<\/span>unnecessary. One could more convincingly argue that Winterbourne and Mrs. W<\/span>a<\/span>lker represent, to different deg<\/span>rees,<\/span>\u00a0an entirely different point of view<\/span>\u2014that of the transatlantic multinational. But that\u2019s a different blog post<\/span>)<\/span>. The final way to read the \u201ceither view of them\u201d is to see \u2018either\u2019 as referring\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0one or the other of Daisy and Winterbourne. I find thi<\/span>s third reading\u00a0<\/span>the most compelling\u2014the most common use of\u00a0<\/span>\u2018either\u2019 is in distinguishing between two things (or people)<\/span>\u00a0(OED I.1)<\/span>\u00a0and the rest of the sentence supports the<\/span>\u00a0\u2018them\u2019<\/span>\u00a0allusion to the two characters: \u201c…he had somehow missed her, and now it was too late.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u2018He\u2019 and \u2018her\u2019 would therefore make up the \u2018them\u2019 earlier in the sentence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0If we move forward with this third readi<\/span>ng<\/span>\u00a0then the contrast provided is between two \u201cview[s] of them<\/span>\u00a0[Daisy\/Winterbourne]\u201d\u00a0<\/span>and this means that the narrator acknowledges that, depending on which \u201cview of them\u201d one takes, there are different positions for the reader to position themself within. It would also mean that\u00a0<\/span>regardless\u00a0<\/span><\/i>of which of these two views the reader experienced the text from\u00a0<\/span>(the Winterbourne-centered view or the Daisy-centered view) in both of them, the narrator acknowledges that \u201che had missed her\u201d. This is the first time\u00a0the passage ent<\/span>ertains a \u201che…her\u201d construction\u2014earlier in the passage the structure is either reflexive (Winterbourne saying to himself, asking himself, angry at finding himself, etc.) or set <\/span>up between the narrator and Winterbourne (\u201cit must be admitted that holding oneself\u201d \u201c<\/span>came to seem to Winterbourne\u201d). The only direct action between Winterbourne and Daisy\u2014that of him missing her\u2014<\/span>lays at Winterbournes feet as his own failure: whether the\u00a0<\/span>Winterbourne<\/span>\u00a0or Daisy-centric view of them has been adopted by the reader, the action is the same, and who (he) missed who (her) is the same; \u201cand now it was too late.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Winterbourne is the one who dropped the ball, the one who \u201cmissed\u201d Daisy,\u00a0<\/span>regardless of whether you\u00a0<\/span>read the novel considering\u00a0<\/span>Winterbourne or Daisy\u00a0<\/span>to be at<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>its\u00a0<\/span>center.\u00a0<\/span>So what? So ultimately the story is of \u201cmissed\u201d opportunity and \u201cmissed\u201d understanding<\/span>\u00a0on the part of Winterbourne, and it resulted in death (the next line explains that Mr. Gio<\/span>v<\/span>anelli has now carried Daisy away). We<\/span>\u00a0were searching for a moral within this novel: if you squint,<\/span>\u00a0and splash around in the OED a bit<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0you can find one in the final sentence of this passage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs I have already had occasion to relate, he was angry at finding himself reduced to chopping logic about this young lady; he was vexed at his want of instinctive certitude as to how far her eccentricities were generic, national, and how far they were personal. From either view of them he had somehow missed … Continue reading Ultimately, Who Screwed This Up?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}