One of Henry James’s achievements is that he developed the international novel. The American, his first major book, portrays a typical post-Civil War American and delineates his differences from Europeans. Although ultimately a tragic story, The American uses irony and humor in its depiction of some of the incongruities between the two cultures.
The hero’s name strongly hints at James’s purpose. Christopher Newman, the reader is told, is named after the explorer Christopher Columbus. Thus, as he returns to Europe for the culture and civilization that he has not had time to pursue in his moneymaking career, this new man becomes a discoverer in reverse. Whereas Columbus brought the Old World to the New World, Newman is a representative of the New World who seeks to discover the Old World.
Besides visiting museums, Newman seeks a wife who embodies culture. In his pursuit, he strikes against rigid European traditions. The new man is confronted with the old ways. Those old ways include the exercise of unearned privilege. Newman underestimates the power and prejudice of his French adversaries. In his New World innocence, he does not anticipate their sinister machinations. He achieves some small victories and attracts the approbation of the finest Europeans—Mrs. Bread, Valentin de Bellegarde, and the incomparable Claire de Cintré—but ultimately Newman discovers something that he did not experience in America. He is denied an opportunity to reap the rewards of his own endeavors. Through no fault of his own, but rather through the injustice of others, he loses the prize for which he has longed.
Part of the frustration the American experiences is that, with his native capaciousness, he believes that he can incorporate into his own character the best of other cultures and so improve himself. Indeed, Valentin and Claire, brother and sister of the old Bellegarde family, are willing to join Newman’s wide embrace. Their good natures are stronger than their aristocratic prejudices. James, however, does not allow the best members of the Bellegarde family to prevail. He ends the novel unhappily. In answer to the objections of his editor, William Dean Howells, James explained that a happy ending would have been unrealistic and would have been pandering to his readership. Claire and Christopher would have been, in James’s words, “an impossible couple.”
In exploring the contrasting outlooks of the democratic Americans and the aristocratic Europeans, James utilizes humor. This novel is sometimes reminiscent of Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad (1869), a hilarious account of Americans in Europe and the Middle East. James’s boorish Mr. Tristram, for example, wonders whether the pictures hanging in the Louvre are for sale. Subtler irony lies in Newman’s failure to realize that his having manufactured washtubs jeopardizes his efforts to win the approbation of the French aristocracy. Like Twain, James was keenly aware of differing cultural values and their humorous potential.
James’s biographer suggests that the portrait of Newman as a national type is filled with ambiguity. Newman could not have met with James’s total admiration. He is too obtuse and self-satisfied with his material success, and he has the audacity to believe that he can buy culture, including a cultured wife. The new man has fine qualities and deplorable ones. He does not deserve the wrong he receives, but does he really deserve to gain the hand of Claire?
Some romantic elements in the novel were deplored by critics and by James himself later in his career. The mystery of Monsieur Bellegarde’s death, the implications of foul play lying behind the medieval walls of the Bellegardes’ home, and the horrible prospect of Claire’s impending “burial” in a convent are all melodramatic. James became, in spite of this beginning, one of the major figures of the realistic movement. His attention was on verisimilitude, as his choice of a common man for a protagonist and his interest in the pragmatic philosophy of the protagonist attest. Usually regarded as inferior to masterpieces such as The Ambassadors (1903) and The Portrait of a Lady (1880-1881), The American nevertheless exhibits many of the qualities that made James one of the major novelists of his time.
Mojawapo ya mafanikio ya Henry James ni kwamba aliendeleza riwaya ya kimataifa. The American, kitabu chake cha kwanza kikubwa, kinaonyesha Mmarekani wa kawaida baada ya Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe na inaelezea tofauti zake na Wazungu. Ingawa hatimaye ni hadithi ya kusikitisha, The American hutumia ucheshi na ucheshi katika uonyesho wake wa baadhi ya kutoelewana kati ya tamaduni hizo mbili. Jina la shujaa huyo linaonyesha waziwazi kusudi la James. Msomaji anaambiwa kwamba Christopher Newman alipewa jina la mvumbuzi Christopher Columbus. Hivyo, anaporudi Ulaya kwa ajili ya utamaduni na ustaarabu ambao hakuwa na wakati wa kufuatilia katika kazi yake ya kupata pesa, mtu huyu mpya anakuwa mvumbuzi kwa upande mwingine. Columbus alianzisha ulimwengu mpya, na Newman alianzisha ulimwengu mpya. Mbali na kutembelea majumba ya makumbusho, Newman anatafuta mke anayeonyesha utamaduni. Katika jitihada zake, anapinga mapokeo magumu ya Ulaya. Mtu mpya anakabiliwa na njia za zamani. Njia hizo za zamani zinatia ndani kutumia mapendeleo ambayo hatujayapata. Newman anadharau nguvu na ubaguzi wa wapinzani wake Wafaransa. Kwa sababu ya kuwa asiye na hatia katika Ulimwengu Mpya, hajui mipango yao mbaya. Yeye hupata baadhi ya ushindi mdogo na huvutia idhini ya Wazungu bora <unk> Bi. Mkate, Valentin de Bellegarde, na Claire de Cintré asiye na kifani... lakini hatimaye Newman hugundua kitu ambacho hakikupata nchini Marekani. Anakataliwa nafasi ya kuvuna thawabu za jitihada zake mwenyewe. Kwa sababu ya ukosefu wa haki wa wengine, wala si kwa sababu ya kosa lake mwenyewe, yeye hupoteza tuzo ambayo amekuwa akitamani sana. Sehemu ya kukata tamaa ambayo Mmarekani hupata ni kwamba, kwa uwezo wake wa asili, anaamini kwamba anaweza kuingiza katika tabia yake mwenyewe bora ya tamaduni nyingine na hivyo kujiboresha. Kwa kweli, Valentin na Claire, ndugu na dada wa familia ya zamani ya Bellegarde, wako tayari kujiunga na kukumbatia kwa Newman. Utu wao mwema ni wenye nguvu kuliko ubaguzi wao wa kifalme. Hata hivyo, James hawaruhusu washiriki bora wa familia ya Bellegarde kushinda. Anaishia riwaya hiyo kwa huzuni. Kwa sababu ya kukataa kwa mhariri wake, William Dean Howells, James alieleza kwamba mwisho wenye furaha haungekuwa jambo la kweli na kwamba ungewavutia wasomaji wake. Claire na Christopher wangekuwa, kwa maneno ya James, "wanandoa wasiowezekana". Katika kuchunguza maoni tofauti ya Wamarekani wa kidemokrasia na Wazungu wa aristocracy, James hutumia ucheshi. "Marekani ya kwanza ya kuandika riwaya ya Mark Twain, ""The Innocents Abroad"" (1869), ni hadithi ya hadithi ya Marekani katika Ulaya na Mashariki ya Kati." Kwa mfano, Bw. Tristram, ambaye ni mtu wa kawaida wa James, anajiuliza ikiwa picha zilizo kwenye Jumba la Louvre zinauzwa. Ujanja zaidi uko katika kushindwa kwa Newman kutambua kwamba kutengeneza mabomba ya kuosha kunahatarisha jitihada zake za kupata kibali cha aristocracy ya Ufaransa. Kama Twain, James alikuwa na ufahamu mkubwa wa maadili tofauti ya kitamaduni na uwezo wao wa ucheshi. Mwandishi wa maisha ya James adokeza kwamba picha ya Newman kama aina ya kitaifa imejaa utata. Newman hangeweza kukutana na James's total admiration. Yeye ni mtu mwenye akili dhaifu sana na mwenye kujiridhisha na mafanikio yake ya kimwili, na ana ujasiri wa kuamini kwamba anaweza kununua utamaduni, kutia ndani mke mwenye utamaduni. Mtu mpya ana sifa nzuri na sifa mbaya. Yeye haistahili kosa alilopokea, lakini je, kweli anastahili kupata mkono wa Claire? Baadhi ya mambo ya kimapenzi katika riwaya hiyo yalikataliwa na wakosoaji na James mwenyewe baadaye katika kazi yake. Siri ya kifo cha Monsieur Bellegarde, athari za mchezo mbaya ulio nyuma ya kuta za enzi za kati za nyumba ya Bellegarde, na matarajio ya kutisha ya "kuzikwa" kwa Claire katika makao ya watawa ni yote ya melodramatic. Licha ya mwanzo huo, James akawa mmoja wa watu mashuhuri wa harakati ya uhalisi. Alikazia fikira uhalisi, kama vile alichagua mtu wa kawaida kuwa mhusika mkuu na kupendezwa kwake na falsafa ya vitendo ya mhusika mkuu. "Hata hivyo, kwa kuwa kitabu hicho kinajulikana kama ""The Ambassadors"" (1903) na ""The Portrait of a Lady"" (1880-1881), kitabu hicho kina sifa nyingi ambazo zilimfanya James awe mmoja wa waandishi wakuu wa riwaya wa wakati wake."