Summary
Before Chapter 1, Henry James includes a short chapter titled "What Maisie Knew." In this chapter, James gives the background of the situation that will play out over the course of the novel. A newly divorced couple, Beale and Ida Farange, are squabbling in court regarding the finances and care of their young daughter, Maisie. It is decided by the court that Maisie will be "divided in two" (11), which is to say that each of her parents "would take her, in rotation, for six months at a time" (11). This is a surprising and disturbing verdict, as neither of Maisie's parents seem fit to raise a child, and many who had been following the drawn-out legal proceedings assumed Maisie would be put in the care of someone else entirely. It is foreshadowed that Maisie's movement back and forth, especially the disparagement of her father by her mother and vice versa, will be detrimental for her development.
James also introduces Beale and Ida Farange and the society they are part of. The author writes that, "This was a society in which for the most part people were occupied only with chatter" (13); as a result people were actually pleased to be outraged and take sides during and after the Farange's legal dispute. Physically, both Faranges are tall and attractive, though Ida has strangely long arms which contribute to her extraordinary skill in billiards. Beale was once a foreign diplomat, but at the time of the story has "only twenty-five hundred" (14). It is implied that Ida spent his money during their marriage, and she too has almost no money to her name. The author accounts for Maisie's care by explaining that "The child was provided for, thanks to a crafty godmother" (14), a matter which is not explicitly mentioned again in the book.
Chapter 1
Maisie is six years old when her parents divorce and her movement back and forth between guardians begins. She spends the first six months with her father, though she is actually cared for mostly by a servant named Moddle. Maisie already feels guilty and confused about her role in her parents' divorce. Moddle feeds into these doubts, telling Maisie that "Your papa wishes you never to forget, you know, that he has been dreadfully put about" (16). Maisie is not looking forward to going to her mother's house, but Moddle cheers her up by making a list of all the things that will be pleasant when she's reunited with her mother.
At the end of the chapter, Maisie's six months at her father's house comes to a close and her mother comes to pick her up. Maisie's father tells the little girl something that makes Moddle tell him he should be ashamed. To this, Beale replies, "My dear woman, I'll settle you presently" (17), and he repeats the same thing to Maisie that he had said before. When Maisie gets in her mother's carriage, her mother asks her whether her father had any message to send to her, and Maisie repeats what her father told her: "He said I was to tell you...that you're a nasty horrid pig!" (17).
Chapter 2
As Maisie is passed like a "little feathered shuttlecock" (18) from parent to parent, rather than focusing on the past or the future, she simply lives in the present. Her parents tell her terrible things about one another, and she absorbs all of it. Eventually, to get out of passing on her parents' spiteful comments, Maisie learns to pretend to be stupid. On the inside, she is actually extremely mature and astute in her observations about her parents. She finds her ruse of being stupid enjoyable, and when her parents call her hateful names as a result of her not understanding or passing on their comments, she "taste[s] a pleasure new and keen" (19).
At Ida Farange's house, Maisie is again cared for by a servant—a governess named Miss Overmore. Miss Overmore is a young woman who is very pretty and is poor because she comes from a large family. Maisie is intrigued by Miss Overmore; she learns the names of all of her sisters and admires the way she genteelly holds her fork while eating. One day, Maisie asks Miss Overmore whether her father actually knows that he lies, as her mother has told her. Miss Overmore is shocked by the question, and answers by saying that she can't tell Maisie no because she is afraid of Ida, but she also doesn't want to disparage Beale because he was friendly to her when they met once at the park. Maisie remembers the encounter, particularly thinking about how her father told Miss Overmore, "I've only to look at you to see you're a person I can appeal to for help to save my daughter" (20).
Chapter 3
The author notes that at this point in the arrangement, Ida feels "more delight in hurling Maisie at [Beale] than in snatching her away" (21). Thus, Ida decides not to send Miss Overmore along with Maisie when she goes back to her father's house purely to bother Beale, since she knows that Maisie likes Miss Overmore and will be upset to move houses without her. Miss Overmore tells Maisie that she tried to plead with Ida to go along with Maisie, but she was told that she would be fired if she attempted to do so. In the end, Miss Overmore promises Maisie that she'll still be at Ida's house when Maisie returns.
When Maisie moves back to Beale's house, Miss Overmore follows her within the week, breaking her promise to Ida. Miss Overmore reports that Ida insulted her harshly when she left, but that Beale greatly appreciates Miss Overmore's presence. Miss Overmore tells Maisie that if she shows a "marked preference" for living with her father and Miss Overmore, she may never have to go back to her mother's house. Maisie is not able to fully conceptualize this, but she knows that she likes Miss Overmore more than her father. She notes that her father seems to like Miss Overmore too.
Chapter 4
Maisie does return to her mother's care, and Miss Overmore obviously cannot come with her. Maisie is given a new governess at her mother's house, an older woman named Mrs. Wix. Maisie does not like Mrs. Wix at first because she is not as pretty as Miss Overmore, but after hearing her voice, Maisie likes her. Maisie finds out that Mrs. Wix had a young daughter of her own named Clara Matilda who died after she was run over by a carriage. Mrs. Wix's strange appearance and demeanor is described in great detail. She wears glasses because her eyes naturally point outwards, and she dresses in drab, unfashionable clothing. Maisie thinks that while Mrs. Wix seemed cruel or strict at the beginning, she was actually deserving of sympathy, since "in the eyes of the world a figure mainly to laugh at" (24).
Mrs. Wix seems to be even poorer than Miss Overmore, and Ida pays her very little to care for Maisie. However, Maisie comes to feel very safe and nurtured by her. They generally do little studying, as Maisie had with Miss Overmore, because Mrs. Wix is not very educated herself. Instead, Mrs. Wix tells Maisie stories, both fictional and from her life. Maisie learns all about Clara Matilda, and even accompanies Mrs. Wix to her grave, but she never learns anything about Mrs. Wix's husband (implying that Mrs. Wix may not have been married to the father of her child).
Chapter 5
Compared to being separated from Miss Overmore, Maisie is even more devastated to be separated from Mrs. Wix when it is time to return to her father's house. To underscore the pain of the separation, the author uses a vivid extended metaphor comparing Maisie's extraction from Mrs. Wix's care to a recent dentist visit in which Maisie had a tooth pulled. Beale comes to get Maisie in a fancy carriage, and Maisie is returned to Miss Overmore's care at her father's house. Maisie is aware that Miss Overmore had been staying at Beale's house all the time she was away, so she asks Miss Overmore, "Did papa like you just the same while I was gone?" (27). Beale laughs loudly at this and responds, "When you're away what have I left to do but just to love her?" (27), hinting at a budding relationship between the two. Miss Overmore responds that it is "horrid" for him to say this (28), which confuses Maisie, and she is further confused when Miss Overmore tries to explain that "a lady couldn't stay with a gentleman that way without some awfully proper reason" (28). By the end of the conversation, Maisie feels embarrassed and bewildered at the vague answers as to where Miss Overmore had been staying; she does not like the feeling of being left in the dark.
Maisie lets her frustration ebb as she gets to spend more time with Miss Overmore. Maisie is given a doll named Lisette that she treats very much like she is treated by her parents and governesses. For example, the author writes, "There were...days when, after prolonged absence, Lisette, watching her take off her things, tried hard to discover where she had been. Well, she discovered a little, but never discovered all" (29). This parallels the way Maisie feels left out of her mother's affairs and Miss Overmore's stay with her father.
Chapter 6
Maisie's stay at her father's house is different this time. She is left with him for longer than the usual 6-month interval; supposedly her mother has gone abroad and is trying to annoy her father by leaving Maisie at his house as long as possible. Miss Overmore's relationship with Beale Farange has also clearly changed, giving the young woman less time to spend caring for Maisie. The idea of sending Maisie to school or getting her another governess are debated, but neither come to pass. Miss Overmore again tells Maisie that it is important that she live with them because she keeps the situation of Miss Overmore staying at the house "perfectly proper" (32). Maisie innocently asks if it would be proper for her to live with her mother and have the gentleman living with her mother be her tutor. Miss Overmore tells Maisie that he is "bad" and "ever so much younger" (33).
Mrs. Wix sends Maisie letters while she is at her father's house, but Miss Overmore will not let Maisie see them. She calls Mrs. Wix's writing "illiterate," "monstrous," and "beyond a joke" (33-34). Maisie is distressed, thinking that she might have to write to Mrs. Wix saying these things, but Miss Overmore assures her that she'll take care of it. Mrs. Wix stops sending letters after this, but Maisie keeps her in her mind as a comforting presence.
Analysis
Maisie is six when her parents divorce and begin sending her back and forth from house to house. This is a very impressionable age, and the emotional trauma she suffers affects her greatly. Importantly, James writes, "She found in her mind a collection of images and echoes to which meanings were attachable—images and echoes kept for her in the childish dusk, the dim closet, the high drawers, like games she wasn't big enough to play...A wonderful assortment of objects of this kind she was to discover there later" (17). This quote shows that the things Maisie witnessed during her parents' dysfunctional marriage and subsequent divorce will remain in her subconscious, affecting her feelings and decisions later in the book. James uses this metaphor to set up the moral of the story, which is that the way a child is raised, especially any neglect or trauma they suffer, will affect them greatly later in life.
Further evidence of Maisie's trauma comes from the symbol of her doll Lisette. Maisie acts toward Lisette the way that her mother acts toward her, mimicking her mother's secretive and emotionally abusive behavior, particularly the way she would leave for long periods of time and be secretive about where she was going. Maisie's behavior toward Lisette demonstrates the effect of this treatment on Maisie's psyche. Her treatment of Lisette calls attention to the way parents can pass down behavior and traits to their children, especially those present during early childhood.
From the beginning of the book, James challenges common perceptions about what constitutes a good mother. Maisie thinks to herself, "[Mrs. Wix] had been, with passion and anguish, a mother, and...this was something Miss Overmore was not, something (strangely, confusingly) that mamma was even less" (24). This contradicts the belief that motherhood is fundamentally a biological relation. This quote, which occurs quite early in the book, also foreshadows Maisie's decision to live with Mrs. Wix rather than Ida or Miss Overmore in the last chapter of the story.
Some important facts about Mrs. Wix are mentioned in this part of the book and then largely do not recur in the rest of the story. Specifically, she had a daughter named Clara Matilda and a husband who is unnamed. Both are said to have died, Clara Matilda in a carriage accident and the husband by unknown causes. It is likely, from the way that James describes Mrs. Wix's secretiveness and discomfort around the subject of her husband, that Mrs. Wix actually had Clara Matilda out of wedlock, which was quite scandalous at the time. Furthermore, while it is not mentioned over the course of the book, Mrs. Wix's grief over raising a child without a committed husband and then losing that child likely motivate her empathy for Maisie and her desire to live as a family with Maisie and Sir Claude.
One example of irony in What Maisie Knew that is particularly present in this section is Maisie's precocious perceptiveness. For a child no older than eight or nine, she often notices and verbalizes things that surprise the adults around her, and in some cases she seems more aware than the adults themselves. For example, Maisie suggests that Sir Claude might become her tutor to make his relationship with Ida more proper. Maisie explains this to Miss Overmore by saying "Mightn't that make it right—as right as your being my governess makes it for you to be with papa?" (33). Miss Overmore blushes, showing that Maisie understands more than she expected about her relationship with Beale and Sir Claude's relationship with Ida. Maisie's idea even foreshadows Sir Claude's involvement in her education.
