Washington Square Lesson Plan

On the very first page of the novel, the narrator speaks directly to readers, using the first-person “I." What does he say, and what effect does this have? What does it make you think of the narrator, and of the person he is describing? Why do you think James chose to begin his novel in this way?

Discussion of these questions should include a very close reading of the first page, which is often difficult for students as a portal to the novel. It might be worth slowing down and going sentence-by-sentence, asking exactly what is meant after each sentence, which contain sweeping assertions about American society in the early 1800s. The narrator first uses “I” after...