more stackpoleness

and now, in chapter 11, mrs. touchett starts to touch upon  henrietta. she doesn't show any interest in nor respect to henrietta--well, she surely doesn't need to. to her, henrietta is just a 'newspaper-woman'. i try to fathom which nature of newspaper that makes it seem trivial. is it the fact that newspaper just transfers information, as opposed to a book that gives analysis? she wonders how a smart girl like isabel selects her as a close friend. here, again, the character of henrietta as a person that goes with the public, a person without individuality, a person with 'boarding-house' view, exclaimed, this time through the mouth of mrs. touchett. i might have considered this a redundancy of characterization if i hadn't found that after saying this mrs. touchett pointed out isabel's being an absolutist, someone who doesn't synthesize ideas. to henrietta, her culture is either good or bad. there's nothing in the middle. she doesn't see things from different perspectives. to her, everything should be measured against america. 

in the second half of the chapter, we will find henrietta, in her conversation with isabel about mr. goodwood, indirectly approves mrs. touchett's judgement of henrietta being absolutist. in this conversation, henrietta accuses isabel as having been changed by the new things around her. by new things, henrientta means mrs. touchett and the gardencourt's people. while isabel is open to new things or ideas so that she 'can choose', henrietta things that she will open her eyes wide to see new things and receive new ideas but those new things should not 'interfere with the old ones'. 

in this chapter, james has put the characters of henrietta very clear. i'm suspicious whether this too 'strong' (in the negative sense, of course) a character of henrietta will remain intact for the rest of the book, unless something really serious happens and makes her change her mindset. so far, until the end of chapter 15 the character of henrietta doesn't seem to change. there are occasions when henrietta looks prominent, such as the scenes when lord warburton and his sister visits them in gardencourt, but her prominence in these scene seem to 'merely' assert her already clear characterization with more and more examples of her judging englishmen and english culture against american standards. if later she seems to succumb to the approach of mr. bantling, to me it's not because she has changed, but it's more because mr. bantling knows how to approach such a superior woman. therefore, from here until the end of chapter 15, i will not touch upon the matter of isabel too much.