Essay Questions

How does Henry James employ paradox to characterize Mr. Offord’s outstanding personality? (“Brooksmith”)

Henry James reveals, “But I suppose he (Mr. Offord) had been too much liked—liked even by those who didn't like IT.” Although this depiction is totally paradoxical, it accentuates Mr. Offord’s enchanting charisma. The individuals ‘who didn’t like IT’ would not be expected acclaim Mr. Offord owing to the antithetical weight of ‘didn’t’. Nonetheless, Mr. Offord’s congeniality appealed to people who would not have customarily approved him had he been deficient of the eminent magnetism. The paradox upholds that Mr. Offord espoused a disposition that was unmistakably above overboard.

What is the effect of Regression on George Stransom? (“The Altar of the Dead”)

George Stransom tackles his unconscious trauma by way of regression. James Henry illuminates, “He waked to his feast of memory as consciously as he would have waked to his marriage-morn. Marriage had had of old but too little to say to the matter: for the girl who was to have been his bride there had been no bridal embrace. She had died of a malignant fever after the wedding-day had been fixed, and he had lost before fairly tasting it an affection that promised to fill his life to the brim.” The memories of the marriage-morn are regressive incidences that thrust George Stransom to his yearning of wedding Mary Antrim. The illusions of the wedding permit Stransom to mollify his unconscious passion for Mary Antrim. The regression placates Stransom’s unconscious momentarily.