Taoist Reading of Henry James novel, The American Essay -- Henry James

A Taoist Reading of  Henry James' novel, The American Henry James' novel, The American, tells the story of one man's journey in search of the Tao. Or, rather, the qualities of Christopher Newman are the qualities of a student of the Tao, following the teachings of the Sage described in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Each time Newman digresses from his path, the lure or object which he desires eventually pushes him back on to it. James's description of Newman as an American incorporates many tenets of the Tao, beginning with the sudden enlightenment on Wall Street that leads to the events in this novel. Likewise, James's Europe rings of Confucianism, the belief system that Taoism eventually replaced in 7th century BC China. As the Introduction to the Penguin edition states, Newman's American qualities can be taken in either a positive or negative light. Our class discussion revealed a resounding agreement with the negative side of Newman as an American, his uncultivated ignorance and unrefined audacity. Sadly, the class has accepted Europe's negative stereotype of the American. On the positive side, Newman's Taoist qualities make him the ideal American. Because of his near perfection, he is despised by those characters whose imperfections he silently reveals. It is perhaps this very interaction between Newman's Taoist American qualities and the more Confucian qualities of the Europeans which originally fostered these negative stereotypes. Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy dating back as early as the 6th century BC. Many Chinese philosophers have attempted to put the Tao into writing, the most widely known being Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching, loosely translated as the Book of Virtues, contains 81 poems assert... ... order of things. His lack of culture, social grace, and position allow him to enjoy what he finds aesthetically pleasing rather than settle for what he should; and communicate to others his true nature rather than one shrouded in applied labels and preconceived notions. Newman, and many Americans, are like the Taoist concept of the uncarved block. The most skilled sculptor carves the least. Our lack of strictly defined stratification and culture leaves us empty and thus open to whatever may fill us, rather than already full and closed-minded. Works Cited and Consulted Borus, Daniel. Writing Realism: Howells, James, and Norris in the Mass Market. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1989. Dalton, Jerry O., Tao Te Ching: Backward Down the Path. Avon Books, New York, 1996. Kaplan, Nancy. Essential Readings in Realism. Durham: Duke University Press,1997.