Physical Descriptions of Characters
James's detailed physical descriptions of his characters both creates a complex picture of the world Maisie grows up in and demonstrates Maisie's perceptiveness from a young age. While children with stable family lives might focus the narration of their lives on friendship, new experiences, or play, Maisie's unstable family life leads her to focus much of her attention on her guardians and other adults. From a young age, James has her shrewdly notices physical characteristics that hint at adults' age, wealth, and social status. For example, when she meets Mrs. Wix for the first time she spends paragraphs detailing the woman's shabby clothing, embarrassing eyewear, and matronly demeanor. The fact that James includes these details about Mrs. Wix's social class through her physical appearance underscores the major themes of wealth, beauty, and social class in the novel.
Paling and Blushing
Throughout What Maisie Knew, James uses the imagery of characters paling and blushing to call attention to moments of strong emotion, building tension as the novel approaches its climax. In general, characters are shown to pale in moments of shock or horror and blush in moments of embarrassment or passion. An example of a character paling comes when Beale asks Maisie if she'll join him in moving to America; James writes, "Planted once more before him in the middle of the room she felt herself turning white" (114). This shows her displeasure at the idea, even though she answers affirmatively. Even more instances of blushing happen throughout the book, but a great example comes when Sir Claude asks Mrs. Wix whether Ida was alone when she came to call. The text reads, "Mrs. Wix was red now: his good humour wouldn't keep down her colour, which for a minute glowed there like her ugly honesty" (148). Mrs. Wix's blush reveals her embarrassment on Sir Claude's behalf and her strong feelings about Ida's immorality. Not only does James use visual imagery to represent emotion, but he also shows how the visual adds layers of complexity to social interaction. For example, Mrs. Wix's blush potentially spurs her to tell the truth, as the text says that her coloring was like a form of honesty in itself.
France
James portrays Maisie's innocent and exuberant experience of France through detailed imagery of the country's sights. During the time Sir Claude leaves Mrs. Wix and Maisie alone in Boulogne, they spend much of the days exploring. Long passages of narration describe their exploration, such as, "Best of all was to continue the creep up the long Grand' Rue to the gate of the haute ville and, passing beneath it, mount to the quaint and crooked rampart, with its rows of trees, its quiet corners and friendly benches where brown old women in such white-filled caps and such long gold earrings sat and knitted or snoozed..." (161). The flowing, almost stream-of-consciousness style of this sentence (which continues for another four lines in the text) creates a sense that the reader is experiencing exactly what Maisie and Mrs. Wix are seeing. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of grand, historical images such as the Grand Rue with simple images such as the old women sitting on benches creates a vivid and complex picture of the city.
Tactile Imagery
James often uses tactile imagery to show a tangible manifestation of the custody battle over Maisie. Maisie keenly notices when people, especially her parents and guardians, touch her, whether gently or violently, giving her hugs, pats, pinches, and pushes. Early in the book, the fickleness of Maisie's parents is shown in the varying types of touch they use with Maisie. Later, tactile imagery is one of the main devices James uses to build suspense during the final scene of the book. As Mrs. Wix, Sir Claude, and Mrs. Beale fight over who is most fit to raise Maisie, James writes, "[Mrs. Beale] threw herself upon the child and, before Maisie could resist, had sunk with her upon the sofa, possessed or her, encircling her" (212) and later "Maisie's back became aware of a push that vented resentment" (212). These details show Mrs. Beale's exaggerated fawning over Maisie when she believes it will help her keep Sir Claude with her, and the rough manner she takes on when she realizes Maisie does not want them to be together.
