Watch and Ward: James's fantasy of Omnipotence - Henry James

Evidence that Nora is maintaining an ideal at the expense of the real is that she suddenly "realizes" that the secret of the universe is that "Roger is the only man in it who has a heart" (237). This belief simplifies her world and her life immensely, and very well might be the belief that is necessary for her to perform properly and obediently the duties of wife and mother in nineteenth-century Victorian society, but the belief alienates her from much of herself. At the close of the novel, Nora feels that her promptings and attempts to separate from Roger - her desire for another man, her feelings of betrayal by Roger when she reads the letter and learns of his original plan for her, and most important her anger at Roger - were not only misguided but sinful. This knowledge of her own "sin" obscures any knowledge of Roger's sin. She expresses her feelings of guilt to Roger in the final paragraphs: "'If I am wiser now, I have learnt wisdom at my cost. I am not the girl you proposed to on Sunday. I feel - I feel dishonoured!' she said, uttering the word with a vehemence that stirred his soul to its depths." The message that Nora has "learnt wisdom at [her own] cost" reveals that, rather than face the truth of her parent, she has instead taken his "sins" onto herself and thus perpetuated the abuse. She has learned his wisdom. Her realization and taking on of this sin "stirs" Roger's "soul to its depths" because it makes his greatest dream come true. It offers absolution. But James also implies that Nora needs to be rescued from herself by Roger, and that Roger, god-like, has the power to redeem her sin by loving her:

"My own poor child!" he murmured, staring.

"There is a young girl in that house," Nora went on, "who will tell you that I am shameless!"

. . . Roger gave a glance at the house behind them, as if to fling defiance and oblivion upon all that it suggested and contained. (237-38)

The novel's virtually final words, however, carry ominous meaning. After Nora's marriage to Roger, she and Mrs. Keith (nee Miss Morton) become "very good friends." Mrs. Keith, "on being complimented on possessing the confidence of so charming a woman," says that "the fact is, Nora is under a very peculiar obligation to me" (238). One obvious implication is that if Roger's old love had not rejected him, Nora would not have been so "fortunate" as to marry Roger. Another implication is that Mrs. Keith conspired with Roger in his plan to use and misuse Nora, and that she is, therefore, complicit. But it must be clear by now that narcissistic parenting is not caused by isolated, inadequate individuals; it is rather the result of a culture that values one gender over another and that asks members of each gender to repress certain aspects of themselves. Roger's dream-come-true, then, can also be seen as his dream to recover the repressed, female, "mother" part of himself, and to possess and control it.

Notes

1 J. A. Ward notes a "deeper psychology" at work here (62). Lee Ann Johnson writes. of the "potential harmfulness" of the character Roger Lawrence (170). Alfred Habegger argues that the novel "masks dependency as love" (257). Lynda Boren declaims "Nora's victimization" (32). And Fred Caplan describes the subject matter of the novel as "substantial, serious, and autobiographically revealing"(128).