An Exploration of the Theme in “Paste” by Henry James

Guo Liqun

【Abstract】“Paste” is a 5，800-word short story by Henry James which attracts many critics attention. However， many people hold misunderstanding towards it because of he cumbersome style of Henry James and his misplaced illustration. After settling down the main mysteries in the story， the theme revealed as a critique about the sex trade.

【Key words】Henry James； “Paste”； theme

I. The Reasons for Causing Misunderstanding

For the study of the theme of “Paste”， there are many different guesses， most of which lack proofs. Great ambiguity created by the short story mainly due to two reasons： the cumbersome style of Henry James and his misplaced illustration about the origin of the story.

1. The Cumbersome Style of Henry James

Henry James attaches a lot of importance to style and spends a lot of time in finding out the suitable dictation and syntactic structure.

In the aspect of diction， he prefers to use big words （words originated from Latin）， idioms and illusions. For example， when Arthur tells Charlotte that he has found something and he wishes her to look at. The author refers it as a habit of Arthur “drop an observation” which is a not commonly used idiom. Then when spoke of widows death， the word “translated” is put into use. In the aspect of syntactic structure， James prefers to use long sentence， heavily segmented. For example， “If the vicars widow， now in her turn finally translated， had not really belonged to him it was not for want of her giving herself， so far as he ever would take her；…” In this sentence， too many commas are used， impairing the flow of meaning. Too many pronouns like “he”， “she” only serves to confuse readers further. Besides，vague expressions like “belong to”， “give”， “take”can create different associations in the minds of different readers.

2. The Misplaced Illustration about the Storys Origin

Henry James seldom explained his intention to create a story. He would rather let the reader explore the story without interruption. However， “Paste” is the only story about which he introduces a literary source. Unfortunately， this instruction hinders readers understanding.

James claimed the inspiration of “Paste” comes from Maupassants story “La Parure” （Necklace） in which a poor woman toiled a decade for a fake necklace. However， James story resembles to Maupassants another story more— “the Les Bijoux”： Monsieur Lantin lives a peaceful life with his beloved wife. Upon her death， he decides to sell her favorite necklacebut to fine the necklace is genuine. It dawns on him his wife has been cheating on him. To sell the jewelry he marries again， but never as happy as before.

From “the Les Bijoux” James may be inspired from the following aspects： The necklace turns out to be true in the end. The necklace is proved to be a token of love or sex trade. Charlotte and Lantin， come into possession of the necklaces as a relic of relative or wife； they find the pearl necklaces are true through appraised by experienced person， Mrs. Guy or by a jeweler in the Rue DE la Paix . In “Paste”， Charlottes innocence and sense of justice is spoiled while in another story Lantins trust and love is betrayed.

II. An Exploration into the Theme of “Paste”

To solve the following mysteries will help understand the theme.

1. Does Arthur Prime know the necklace is genuine？

2. Why does Arthur give Charlotte the necklace as a gift？

3. Why does he contrives to convince the necklace is simply “Paste”？

4. How does Mrs. Guy come into possess the necklace？

From the end of the story， we know that Arthur is a money-worshiper unless he will not sell the valuable necklace and reveal the disgraced illicit love affairs of his stepmother. So imagine if he knows the necklace is genuine why he tried to give it to Charlotte？ Thus Arthur must have no idea that the necklace is genuine.

Then Why does he give Charlotte it as a gift？ It can be easily understood that since he gives all the these gaudy imitation to his cousin without knowing the necklace is genuine， he must want his cousin to have it. In fact， there are two reasons for which Charlotte may accept the offer. First， Charlotte is in good terms with her aunt. It is repeatedly mentioned by Charlotte that “she was a dear kind thing， always so nice to me， and I was fond of her.” Second， Charlotte is a simple and inexperienced girl compared with Mrs. Guy. As a country girl， neither does she know a lot about jewelry nor have a taste for jewelry. Hence， Arthur think Charlotte may not show aversion to his offers.

But there is still a mystery in the air that why Arthur would love Charlotte to have them rather than someone else？ If he is not in a purpose of getting rid of the necklace so as to preserve the his step mothers fame？ Then what is his purpose？

Charlotte was never able to show the pearls out until Mrs. Guy borrow them for stage decoration. The next morning she was inspired by the them. “Yes， Ill do Rowena. But I do not understand.”... “How you come to have such things.”... “They belonged to my aunt ...these are a part of her trappings.”... “She left them to you ？” “No， my cousin， her stepson， who naturally have no use for them， gave them to me for remembrance of her . She was a dear kind thing...”... “But it is HE who must be a dear kind thing！”...“Is HE，” her friend went on， “also ‘always so nice to you？”...

Obviously Mrs. Guy is aware of what a present means when it is from a man to a girl despite in her eyes only a genuine valuable string of pearls can be counted as a present. However， it is of different case in Charlotte. She will treat these things as a present due to her relationship with her aunt and her less-knowing in jewelry. Also Mrs. Guy is more sensitive than Charlotte to the opposite sexs intention. “Is He，”... “also ‘always so nice to you？” She suggests his cousin may develop a liking towards Charlotte of which she has no consciousness.

Does Arthur really like Charlotte？ Little evidences in “Paste” can attest this point. But in all Arthurs rude and priggish words， several speeches he says are different from the other. It is when Charlotte examines the “old gewgaws” for the first time. “...she continued to turn them over. ‘Theyre relics. I think they have their melancholy and even their dignity. Arthur observed another pause. ‘Do you care for them？ he then asked. ‘I mean， he promptly added， ‘as a souvenir.”Arthurs tone softens now， these old stuff can not be real. He even tries to inquire the feelings of Charlotte. “Do you care for them？” He cares about her in fact. This inquiry reveals Arthurs feelings.

Arthur is a man who is little “abnormal”， he has a habit “to drop an observation and leave her to pick up without assistance”. He is unsocial-able.“his personal connection with the parish was now slighter than ever” when he doesnt need to have phatic conversions with others； he is not good at communicating with others.“he had really not waited for this opportunity to show the ladies what he thought of them.” Therefore， it is reasonable that he talks with his cousin in such a strange tone. It is also explicable that he seems to be in a contrived manner when he tries to persuade her cousin to accept those gaudy imitations. He as an unsociable man simply wants to give a present to his dear in his particular manner while others may feel uncomfortable.

If Arthur presents the pearl necklace to Charlotte due to love then why does Mrs. Guy come into possess the necklace in the end？ Charlotte must be hurt Arthur hard by sending the necklace back. Arthurs love does not pay back. Mrs. Guy， as a social butterfly， knows how to satisfy man and gains what she want. Nearly in the end of the story Charlotte meets Mrs. Guy and discovers that she is wearing Arthurs pearls. Mrs. Guy tells Charlotte that she bought them in the shop where Arthur disposed of them. Whereas Charlotte recalls that she had given Mrs. Guy his address. Mrs. Guy is most likely to gain the necklace in a private transaction with Arthur. To be more specific， she may develop an illicit love affair with Arthur.

Thus Arthur goes through the process of degradation. Here， the necklace in “Paste” as a revealing of love or sex trade seemingly coincides with the theme in “the Les Bijoux”. Therefore， in my opinion， the theme in “Paste” is about how property engages in sex trade. By disclosing such facts， the author calls for the purity in true love.

Henry James creates ambiguity in “Paste” because of his cumbersome style and his misplaced illustration about the origin. After working out several mysteries in the story， the theme revealed as a critique about the sex trade .

References：

[1]Sun，Huaxiang.Literary Texts：Reading and Interpretation.濟南：山東電子音像出版社.2006.

[2]SEGNITZ，T.M..“The Actual Genesis of Henry James s ‘Paste”.Parsons College.