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Punctilio in Henry James's "The Awkward Age"

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Date Issued:
1989
Summary:
In The Awkward Age James dramatizes social evolution by contrasting two opposing punctilios. Mr. Longdon is heir to the classic codes of behavior, codes that emphasize protection of the woman, that stress privacy, as well as the correspondence between inner feelings and outer actions. Mrs. Brook and her set react against what this punctilio has become in modern society: mere form. They renounce the old punctilio as fraudulent and replace it with a code that emphasizes freedom, one that violates the most cherished canons of Mr. Longdon's punctilio. Yet their freedom is tainted by their knowledge of the old ways. They cannot abandon the past and are caught between old and new in the process of change, unable to act or to speak their minds. Ignorant of the past, Nanda discovers the need to evolve her own punctilio.
Title: Punctilio in Henry James's "The Awkward Age".
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Name(s): Wolff, Catherine M.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Pearce, Howard D., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1989
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 62 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: In The Awkward Age James dramatizes social evolution by contrasting two opposing punctilios. Mr. Longdon is heir to the classic codes of behavior, codes that emphasize protection of the woman, that stress privacy, as well as the correspondence between inner feelings and outer actions. Mrs. Brook and her set react against what this punctilio has become in modern society: mere form. They renounce the old punctilio as fraudulent and replace it with a code that emphasizes freedom, one that violates the most cherished canons of Mr. Longdon's punctilio. Yet their freedom is tainted by their knowledge of the old ways. They cannot abandon the past and are caught between old and new in the process of change, unable to act or to speak their minds. Ignorant of the past, Nanda discovers the need to evolve her own punctilio.
Identifier: 14549 (digitool), FADT14549 (IID), fau:11346 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1989.
Subject(s): James, Henry,--1843-1916--Awkward age
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14549
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.