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"The Beginnings of Modernity in Washington Square and A Hazard of New Fortunes"

Carl Sweat

In Katja Sarkowsky's essay, "The Spatial Politics of Urban Modernity: Henry Jamess

Washington Square", she very aptly describes the tone of James' 1880 novel as being one of

"ambivalence, nostalgia, and uneasiness" (Sarkowsky 12). These thoughtful adjectives describe

the disputes that arise from the rapid demographic and economic shifts of 19th century New

York City. William Dean Howells 1890 novel, A Hazard of New Fortunes, similarly focuses on

the sociological paradigm shifts of modern life and their often frightening implications.

However, the two novels arrive at very different conclusions. In Washington Square, Austin

Sloper sees changing demographics and business practices as a threat to his status as a

gentleman. In contrsst, Basil March in A Hazard of New Fortunes attempts to transcend this

sense of "uneasiness" through exoticizing the growing number of immigrants and by attempting

to take advantage of the admittedly flawed capitalist system. I posit that the way in which the

Marches force themselves to struggle with new ideas, such as multiculturalism, consumerist

culture, and non-linear notions of identity, represents an important, albeit problematic,

development from Austin Slopers nineteenth century dogma toward the modern sociological

paradigm.

While the two novels in question chronicle the transformation of New York City from a

quaint town into a burgeoning metropolis, they analyze this metamorphosis at two different

stages. The events of Washington Square take place largely during the 1820s-1860s, while A

Hazard of New Fortunes focuses on the latter half of the 19th century. This passage of time

reflects the changing value systems and the shifting realities of choosing a home and career. For

Sloper's part, he selects an idyllic home in Washington Square, which embodies "the ideal of
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quiet and of genteel retirement" (James 12). This is an ideal that, as narrated in A Hazard of New

Fortunes, would cease to be as the urbanized landscape develops.

The narrator of A Hazard of New Fortunes describes Washington Square as the Marches

see it, roughly half a century following the Slopers' decision to settle there. During this time,

rather than being homogenous, the neighborhood thrives among the "infants and dotards of Latin

extraction," and the "benches filled with lovers" (Howells 176). Far from the placid solitude of

the Slopers' Washington Square, that of the Marches displays the vivaciousness of urban life, as

well as the passions of youth. It is clear that one can no longer turn to Washington Square for a

sense of placid continuity.

This shift from a quiet to a bustling neighborhood marks just one way in which the

motivations for relocating to Washington Square change between the time of the Slopers and that

of the Marches. In addition to his desire to escape social progress, the narrator notes that Austin

Sloper moves from his 1820 era home to Washington Square in 1835 in order to avoid "the base

uses of commerce" (James 12), which had recently infected his community. The fact that the

Industrial Revolution is still in its infancy during this time makes Austin keenly aware of the

alarming changes occurring around him.

Toward the end of A Hazard of New Fortunes, Basil arrives at much the same cynical

conclusion about capitalist culture when he remarks that it leaves one covered with blood and

dirt and sin and shame (Howells 260). Unlike Austin, however, Basil recognizes the unfortunate

nature of capitalism as an inescapable reality; avoiding such things is a luxury that the Marches

cannot afford. As Basil casually laments toward the novels conclusion, business is business;

but I dont say it isnt disgusting (Howells 289). This pithy tautology is an expression of somber

requiescence, of coming to terms with a harsh reality.

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Although Basil despises capitalism like Austin, he does so on the basis of his idealism

rather than on his elitism. Basil comes to believe that capitalism is exploitative in nature, and he

rejects it on these grounds. Austin, on the other hand, disregards commerce due to the looming

threat that new money will render virtuous people from their licentious counterparts.

Unthreatened by the prospect of gentrification, Basil recognizes that he must compromise on his

principles in order to eke out a living.

The Marches risk their livelihoods in Boston by relocating in order to take part in an

entrepreneurial enterprise, in spite of the admittedly flawed nature of capitalism. The possibility

of making a great success of it (Howells 17) allows the Marches to overcome Sarkowskys

"uneasiness and ambivalence" regarding modern life long enough to move to New York City,

wherein new forms of disquietude await. Conversely, Austins move to Washington Square

stems primarily from "nostalgia" for a life unobstructed by the frenzied activity of the

metropolis. Both A Hazard of New Fortunes and Washington Square present the stressful,

perhaps even morally suspect, nature of consumerist culture, which by its transactional nature

has the power to develop potentially threatening liminal spaces. Yet the Marches confront this

unsavory lifestyle with guilty fascination and reluctant acceptance, while the Slopers seek to

avoid it entirely.

In spite of her status as the heroine of Washington Square, Austins daughter Catherine is

nevertheless complicit in her father's isolationism, in that she attempts to avoid immigrants when

choosing a home. The narrator snidely remarks that she chose not to live in Battery Park, largely

due to her fear of "being exposed to intrusion by the Irish emigrants" (James 66). Although

Catherine rebels against her father in the context of her engagement to Morris Townsend, she

nevertheless shares his conservative values.

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The Irish pose a threat to the authority of the Slopers because they "alight, with large

appetites, in the New World (James 66). It is not simply the "large appetites" that the Slopers

fear, so much as the possibility of this hunger being insatiable. Perhaps they would feel less

threatened by the idea of Irish immigration if they had the assurance that the Irish are merely

seeking sustenance. It is the ambition of the immigrants, their desire for wealth and prestige,

which threatens the dominant culture. Accordingly, it is the looming peril of social displacement,

of usurpation, that drives the Slopers to seek isolation.

In his 1903 essay, "The Metropolis and Mental Life," German sociologist Georg Simmel

argues that retaining a sense of "individuality and independence" within the chaos of city life and

culture remains one of modern life's greatest challenges (Simmel 324). In terms of Austins

character, he wishes to retain not so much his uniqueness as such, but on what Simmel calls

being "indispensable", which is a more practical facet of individuality.

Throughout Washington Square, Austin defines himself, and his acquaintances view him,

by his profession. One of the first ways in which the narrator describes him is in reference to his

patients, who often brag that they have the "'brightest' doctor in the country" (James 3). The

narrator also claims that it was "so patently a truth that if he were not a doctor there was nothing

else he could be" (James 4). His connection to the community is therefore inexorably tied to his

calling. Furthermore, his livelihood and identity are one in the same. According to Simmel's

paradigm, moving to an "idyllic" setting is an attempt to secure reputation and utility, which are

vital to Sloper's sense of self.

This ability to define people by the way in which they make their living is not limited to

his character, but also to the society in which he lives. For Austin, for whom social standing is a

moral as well as economic quality, commerce is dangerous. It allows for gentrification, which
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makes it difficult for him to accurately deduce the relative worth of the people with whom he

associates. His wariness is apparent in his interactions with Mrs. Montgomery, whose humble

abode colors Sloper's opinion of her immediately. After visiting her, he sardonically relates that

"the modest proportions of her dwelling seemed to indicate that she was of small stature" (James

55). The word "stature" here does not merely have the connotation of being related to physical

appearance. Rather, Sloper seems to also be using the term in reference to importance or

reputation, or lack thereof.

For their part, the Marches possess their own pretensions, such as being forever

conscious of "the line at which respectability distinguishes itself from shabbiness" (Howells 34).

However, Basil March in particular seems willing to associate with lower class individuals, such

as his friend Lindau. In her essay, "The Joys of the Elevated: William Dean Howells and the

Urban Picturesque," Samantha Bernstein characterizes A Hazard of New Fortunes as drawing

upon the commonly held belief among the middle class that capitalist society fosters

relationships characterized by "artifice and atomization." In contrast, slums, with their close

proximity to one another, supposedly engender relationships distinguished by their "fellowship

and authenticity" (Bernstein 280). Here, Bernstein is reacting to the bourgeois supposition that

suffering hardship promotes worldliness and wisdom. This sense of class envy is an idea closely

related to exoticism, as both constitute admiration for things that fall outside of the realm of

experience and rational understanding.

Basils bourgeois existence leaves him envious of this sense of camaraderie among the

poor, which attracts him further to Lindau. When Isabel admonishes her husband for his

association with Lindau, Basil defines him in almost panegyrical terms, saying that "he was the

best and kindest man I ever saw, the most high minded, the most generous" (Howells 89). Basils
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desire to rekindle the friendship with this poor but principled man speaks to his longing for what

Bernstein calls "fellowship and authenticity." This is in contrast to his working relationships,

which are strictly related to business matters. Basils friendship with Lindau exists strictly for its

own sake, without any reference to Every Other Week. The fact that he deeply values Lindau

speaks to Basils desire for a relationship with its own, intrinsic value.

Unlike Austin, who defines himself almost solely in reference to his professional

reputation, Basil has a more complex locus of identity. In addition to defining himself by his

work, he also does so in terms of his personal relationship to others, his wife and Lindau in

particular. At one point, he goes so far as to satirize Fulkerson for his apparent inability to

discuss anything but his literary periodical (Howells 244). For Basil, career ambitions should not

necessarily override a sense of belonging. Naturally, his desire to form meaningful relationships

detracts from this desire to retain his individuality, but in return, he gains a sense of identity that

exists outside of himself. This is a concession that Austin is largely unwilling to make. Instead of

subordinating individuality to obtain a sense of community, he attempts to solve what Simmel

refers to as "the deepest problems of modern life" (Simmel 324) through emphasizing his

prestigious social standing.

For Simmel, the nineteenth century constitutes a paradigm shift, particularly for the more

affluent members of society, such as Basil and Austin, who "had been liberated from their

historical bonds" (Simmel 339). According to his essay, during the nineteenth century, socially

privileged individuals began to reject collectivism in favor of self-actualization, in order to

"distinguish themselves from one another" (Simmel 339). Although the two main characters

express their individuality in different ways, they both nevertheless reflect a search for a unique

identity in a bustling metropolis. The primary difference between them being that Basils
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identity has an external, and therefore malleable, focus, while Austins sense of self is largely

internal, and therefore static.

Basils external sense of self, the way in which he defines himself in relation to others,

has the advantage of augmenting his identity with malleability. He and and his wife do not still

possess the spontaneity and wanderlust of their youth. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that "the

chief pleasure of their life in New York was from its quality of foreignness" (Howells 174). In

contrast to both Catherine and Austin Sloper's ideal of hegemony, the Marches concede that this

is a prominent, unavoidable facet of modern life, and they choose to, if not embrace it

wholeheartedly, then at the very least look upon it with fascination. This sense of exoticism is in

itself problematic, in that it reduces other cultures to a mere spectacle. However, exoticism, with

all of its imperfections, nonetheless constitutes a form of interaction between the dominant

culture and the minority culture. As such, exoticism presents a vital intermediary step between

the isolationism of the Slopers and modern day multiculturalism.

In his 1993 work, On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism, and Exoticism in French

Thought, Tzvetan Todorov characterizes exoticism as "admiration without knowledge" and

remarks that this constitutes a "paradox" (Todorov 325). This "paradox," as described by

Todorov, seems to be that as soon as one educates oneself on a foreign object, one cannot

exoticize it, at least not by Todorov's definition.

The Marches do not initially choose to educate themselves on the unfamiliar "flavor of

olives" (Howells 175), which Howells uses as a metaphor for foreign qualities. Had they

immediately done so, it is debatable as to whether or not the admiration, which Todorov

associates with exoticism, would remain intact. The modern, multicultural view that Todorov

seems to espouse, would have it that we forsake exoticism entirely, in favor of total
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comprehension and integration of other cultures. In his essay, "Response: Exoticism Beyond

Cosmopolitanism," Srinivas Aravamudan briefly illustrates this viewpoint by remarking that "a

non-exoticist sensibility would systematically assimilate novelty into the observers life

experience" (Aravamudan 228). Recognizing the inherently problematic nature of exoticism, a

non-exoticist immediately strives for comprehension. According to this position, since exoticism

is dehumanizing by its very nature, it is dangerous and one should therefore take care to

eradicate it. Because exoticism is "admiration without knowledge," acquiring an understanding

of another culture begins the process of eliminating exoticism.

Yet it is debatable as to whether exoticism is malevolent at its very core. As Aravamudan

notes, "it could be argued that the cosmopolitan subject arose by being able to harness the

unproductive remainders of exoticism into a kind of comparative engine" (Aravamudan 229).

This is to say that the exoticist takes pains to keep unfamiliar cultural icons isolated from his or

her network of familiar experiences, either out of xenophobia or a desire to retain their ability to

astound and amaze. Conversely, the cosmopolitan seeks to "form a comparative engine", to

integrate his or her experiences with these previously unknown cultural mores. By placing

unfamiliar cultural constructs alongside their quotidian counterparts, multiculturalism converts

the isolationist and unproductive tendencies of exoticism into a constructive framework.

It is therefore possible for an exoticist to recognize, even subconsciously, the

problematic, exploitative nature of exoticism. Henceforth, the newly reformed exoticist might

seek integration, which is a defining characteristic of multiculturalism. For example, after

frequenting a restaurant, the Marches "renewed their faded Italian with the friendly family"

(Howells 175). It is only after viewing Italian immigrants from a safe distance and observing

their unusual customs that the Marches seek to develop knowledge of the Italian way of life. The
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Marches begin to evaluate Italian culture based on its own merits, rather than adhering to the

problematic exoticist notion that a statue of Garibaldi existed for their appreciation (Howells

33). Although exoticism initially creates a boundary between the dominant and subordinate

cultures, frequent exposure to other ways of life can eventually render exoticism obsolete. In

Todorov's language, the "admiration" can ultimately thrive apart from the "lack of knowledge,"

which he associates with exoticism.

The differing attitudes regarding "foreignness" between the Marches and the Slopers are

the result of the former's tendency to exoticize and the latter's desire to avoid foreigners

altogether. Even as the Slopers travel abroad to Europe, the narrator makes no mention of any

notable interactions with the locals. The narrator only deigns to mention that they "travelled in

considerable splendour (James 97) and became so fascinated with the high culture that they

prolonged their stay. For the Slopers, European culture exists apart from Europeans themselves.

They never observe the local inhabitants in any meaningful way, as far as the reader is aware.

They can therefore neither truly delight in foreignness nor embrace multiculturalism.

Aravamudan argues that this tendency to view culture apart from those who shape it

also constitutes a form of exoticism. Exoticists ultimately fail to "recognize strangers except as

sheer exotics, more as objects than as persons" (Aravamudan 230). From this perspective, the

Slopers are not exoticists, as they fail to recognize strangers entirely. For their part, the Marches

begin their sojourns through New York as exoticists, who commodify foreigners in the way that

Aravamudan suggests. However, they are partially transformed by what the narrator calls the

"catholic character" of their relations with foreigners (Howells 175). While Isabel has

reservations about this newly found multicultural identity away from the homogeneity of Boston,

Basil argues that he occasionally enjoys "to feel his personality in that state of solution (Howells
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176). This is to say that while associating with foreigners may be immoral, the pleasure that

Basil derives from it is sufficient for the cohabitation with foreign elements to continue.

The way in which Basil describes his budding multiculturalist sensibilities as possibly

immoral illustrates the fact that his cosmopolitanism is still in its embryonic stage. Although they

develop some egalitarian tendencies, the Marches are nevertheless a product of their time, an era

in which mainstream society had yet to understand cosmopolitanism as a virtue. Basil, and Isabel

to a lesser extent, simply represent the beginnings of a new stage toward this ideal, rather than its

completion. These ideas exist on a spectrum and are not absolute.

The fact that the Marches problematize multiculturalism and find themselves longing for

the relative hegemony of Boston relate back to Sarkowskys thematic description of Washington

Square as a novel brimming with ambivalence, nostalgia, and uneasiness. The Marches seem

reluctant to change, and often long for Boston, a place of relative homogeneity. Their nostalgic

view of Boston stems not so much from fond memories as from the fact that Boston limits their

interactions with subordinate cultures. In so doing, living in Boston does not require the Marches

to change. It therefore upholds the same ideals of quiet and genteel requirement as Washington

Square does for the Slopers. Boston is big enough for the Marches (Howells 14). This

qualification is significant because living in too big of a city might lead to the existential crisis

that Simmel refers to as the main conundrum of 19th century urbanization.

The initial hesitation to move away from Boston stems from the fact that Isabel has

always lived there (Howells 8). Not only does Boston provide her with the comforts associated

with familiarity, but it also furnishes her with a consistent sense of identity. Her sense of herself

provides order in a fluid, changing world. Her reluctance to leave Boston derives from her fear

that in doing so, she will lose herself. In that sense, what Simmel calls the ability to distinguish
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oneself from others is just as essential to her as it is to Austin, but in a slightly different context.

While Austin wishes to maintain his identity in order to secure his reputation, Isabel is

attempting to avoid change, both in herself and in her surroundings. Paradoxically, she wishes to

distinguish herself not through Austins careerism, which is unavailable to her, but by

emphasizing her roots as a Bostonian.

Basil even verbally acknowledges the isolationist appeal of Boston when he tells

Fulkerson that Boston belongs to the Bostonians but that they will make a visitor feel at home

(Howells 8). This implies that there is a strict relationship between the dominant culture and its

subordinate counterpart, and that the locals dictate whether or not an outsider is entitled to a

sense of belonging. Through this divisive sense of exceptionalism, Bostonians, as defined by

Basil, have the ability to clearly define themselves in relation to others. This powerful notion of

selfhood is something that Isabel sees as moral, and her suspicions of New York life derive from

the fact that this sharply defined line between us and them will inevitably become blurred, as

it eventually does.

Like exoticism, such static notions of identity create a barrier between oneself and the

outside world, which the metropolis problematizes, due to both its cultural diversity and the close

proximity between its inhabitants. Because of these two factors, city life dispenses with

isolationism in favor of what Bernstein calls fellowship and authenticity. It is this muddling of

identity that the Marches find immoral. They openly resist any alterations to their external

environment because this might result in internal modifications. However, in the same way that

the Slopers cannot elude immigration and consumerism, the Marches cannot escape changing

notions of identity.
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In her book, Mappings: Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of Encounter, Susan

Stanford Friedman alludes to this paradigm shifting late 20th century idea that identity is a

mercurial concept, one that depends on a point of reference (Friedman 22). As one navigates

through society, ones identity inevitably changes according to ones environment. As such,

Isabels reluctance to move indicates a reluctance to change. Nevertheless, once the Marches

choose to move, their personalities cannot remain fixed structures.

Yet the Marches do not change completely upon their arrival in New York. They carry

many of their preconceived notions with them, and any alterations to their character are

fragmented and compartmentalized, according to the particular situation in which they find

themselves. As Friedman notes, one situation might make a persons gender most significant;

another, the persons race; another, sexuality or religion or class (Friedman 23). Thus

considered, the changes that occur in the Marches are very specific in scope. Specifically, their

worldview begins to shift predominately in terms of culture and class, because these are the

facets of society most directly and radically contrasted between New York and their former

home.

The fact that setting can inevitably result in personality changes highlights the importance

of New York City in both Washington Square and A Hazard of New Fortunes. The metropolis

plays a pivotal role in what the Slopers and the Marches find themselves capable of believing,

and equally importantly, what they are permitted to resist. This variability is what Friedman

refers to as situational subjectivity (Friedman 25). Because New York City has not yet

transformed into a burgeoning megalopolis during the time of the Slopers, they can hold fast to

rigid class distinctions and the idea of Anglo-Saxon dominance. However, once the Marches

arrive in the now expansive, diverse New York City, they must reassess their preconceived
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notions of culture and class, because in Friedmans language, the situation makes these concepts

most significant.

Equally important to setting in terms of framing beliefs is the time in which the two

novels take place. As Friedman notes in her discussion of situational subjectivity, fluidity of

identity as a concept did not exist until the late 1980s. Prior to that time, identity was a linear

construct, in which each and every event in ones life inevitably contributes to the development

of a singular entity called the self. The fact that the events in A Hazard of New Fortunes take

place roughly one hundred years before the dawn of non-linear identity means that the Marches

cannot accept anything less than the complete cohesion of selfhood.

This anachronistic aspect is significant, because it means that so long as the Marches

identify as Bostonians, they will always consider their associations with both New Yorkers and

immigrants to be disingenuous, contrary to their very nature, and too relaxing to the moral

fibre, in Isabels words (Howells 176). In this sense, liminal spaces are just as threatening to the

Marches as they are to the Slopers. They do not live in a time in which a person can

unashamedly assert, to use Friedmans example, that if my mom yelled at me in Spanish this

morning, I feel Hispanic; if I went out last night and listened to rap, I feel black (Friedman 23).

Because the Marches see identity as a unified whole, they can accept neither multiculturalism

nor a plurality of identity without experiencing a sense of shame. Although they make admirable

strides toward progressive moral values, milestones that were impossible just a few decades

earlier during the time that the Slopers move to Washington Square, they take these positive

steps unwillingly, thus halting any complete transformations of their character and of their world

at large.
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However uncouth the Marches may find such newfangled cultural concepts as

multiculturalism and capitalism, they are unavoidable. As Amy Kaplan notes in The Social

Construction of American Realism, the characters cannot retreat from the city to their rural

homes (Kaplan 63). This is due to the fact that the ideas inherent to the cityscape are already

lurking beneath the surface of their person. The once unfamiliar, even unethical notions of urban

life have ignited in their consciousnesses. The characters must grapple with these ideas and place

them within an ideological framework, so that posterity can do with them what they will. They

can do all but forget and discard these strange impressions.

When comparing the old South to the new South, Basil muses that Miss Woodburn

represents the latter because the modern conditions must be producing a modern type (Howells

171). It is an equally valuable observation to note that the same is true of New York. Unlike

Austin, who remains unexposed to innovative expressions of personhood due to the fledgling

stage in the citys development, the Marches must face the cityscape with all of its unsettling

attitudes intact.

Basils assertion is also important because it describes a process: the city is actively

producing a modern type. Modern is in itself a subjective notion. What is modern today was

impossible yesterday and will be antiquated tomorrow. Therefore, while the Marches are modern

for their time, in that they struggle with newly developed ideas, they nevertheless exist on a

spectrum, as indicated by their failure to accept these innovations.

In conclusion, although Washington Square and A Hazard of New Fortunes both take

place in New York City, they do so at remarkably different stages. The shift from a large town to

a metropolis carries with it moral quandaries with which the characters in the two novels must

reconcile themselves. While the Slopers seek to avoid these still embryonic notions, the Marches
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must inevitably struggle with them. Through their reluctance to change, however, the Marches

ultimately fail to realize their true potential. Nevertheless, the novel invites the idea that posterity

will continue to shape the world in new ways through the continued existence of Every Other

Week.
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Works Cited

Aravamudan, Srinivas. Response: Exoticism Beyond Cosmopolitanism? Eighteenth-Century

Fiction, vol. 25, no. 1, 2012, 227242 pp. Literary Reference Center. Web.

Bernstein, Samantha. "The Joys Of The Elevated: William Dean Howells And The Urban

Picturesque." Canadian Review Of American Studies/Revue Canadienne D'etudes

Americaines, vol. 45, no. 3, 2015, 278-299 pp. MLA International Bibliography. Web.

Friedman, Susan Stanford. Mappings: Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of Encounter.

Princeton, Princeton University Press, 19 Oct. 1998. Print.

Howells, William Dean. A Hazard of New Fortunes. New York, Start Classics, 8 Jan. 2015.

Web.

James, Henry. Washington Square. New York, Harper Perennial, 11 Nov. 2014. Web.

Kaplan, Amy. The Social Construction of American Realism. 2nd ed., Chicago, University of

Chicago Press, 1 Oct. 1992. Print.

Sarkowsky, Katja. "The Spatial Politics Of Urban Modernity: Henry James's Washington

Square." Amerikastudien/American Studies vol. 59, no. 1, 2014, 7-25 pp. MLA International

Bibliography. Web.

Simmel, Georg. Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms: Selected Writings. Edited by

Donald N. Levine and Morris Janowitz, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1 Feb. 1972.

Web.

Todorov, Tzvetan, et al. On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism, and Exoticism in French

Thought. 2nd ed., Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 10 Mar. 1993. Print.
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