The Portrait of a Lady Chapters 4-5

Chapter 4

Isabel is proved to be the "smart" one among her sisters. Her sensible sister hopes traveling to Europe will give Isabel some advantages she'd been lacking from indifferent upbringing by her father. Lillian's husband says that Isabel already has too many ideas. A woman isn't supposed to think, after all. Isabel enjoyed her educational career, even though it was strange and many thought it scandalous. She also realizes that she puts men off by being intelligent and bookish. She reflects on the unfortunately named Casper Goodwood, a suitor who she rejects at the end of the chapter. She thinks that maybe she's not as interested in marriage as she should be.

Chapter 5

Ralph runs to talk to his mother, mainly about Isabel. Ralph admires his father a great deal and wanted to take over the banking business, but he's a semi-invalid from a lung disease. This is unfortunate because he really would like to live life to the fullest. Ralph asks his mother if she intends to marry Isabel off. Mrs. Touchett says that she's not worried about that. The most annoying thing is that Isabel wants to pay her own way, but she knows nothing about money and can't afford to so Mrs. Touchett is having to trick her into thinking she's paying. Ralph goes down to dinner and shows Isabel the paintings in the house because she seems interested. She asks about whether the house has a ghost and Ralph makes the comment only people who have suffered can see it. Isabel makes the stupid foreshadowing comment that she's not afraid of suffering. This means she will suffer.

The Portrait of a Lady Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1

Mr. Touchett, his son Ralph, and a family friend Lord Warburton are having tea and discussing Mrs. Touchett, who has been traveling America and sending poorly worded cryptic telegrams back home to England. The men believe she's picked up a niece somewhere, but can't determine what is meant by her being described as "very independent". They joke that Lord Warburton can't fall in love with her since she's the family niece, while he makes a crack about her possibly not being worth his attention. This obviously means everyone will fall in love with her.

Chapter 2

Isabel, the independent niece, shows up at the home with her aunt, who has retired to bed rather than greet her family. Isabel charms the men and their dogs. They declare her very interesting and she makes a point of letting everyone know she's very independent.

Chapter 3

This chapter goes into how Isabel and Mrs. Touchett meet. Mrs. Touchett and her husband are basically separated and she travels to America all the time. She finds Isabel at her home in the library where Isabel and her sisters are trying to sell the house. Mrs. Touchett discusses letting Isabel travel to Florence with her even though they don't know each other very well. The family had had a falling out and Isabel really hasn't seen her aunt before. She finds her aunt eccentric, but agrees that she will try to behave if she gets to go to Florence. Obviously she won't behave or this would just be a travel guide.

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

And so begins the first novel on the Read Along Book List from the 100 Books Every High School Student Should Read. Henry James and I have a long and storied history dating back to the fact that I hate him. I think I'm one of two people in the world who like Edith Wharton, but can't make it through a James novel. I vividly remember Turn of the Screw being the longest, most boring ghost story on the face of the earth in high school. I remember as a high schooler trying to figure out how someone managed to make a ghost story so tedious and not interesting.

So here we are years later, with me as an adult deciding to try to muddle through 400+ pages of manners, suppressed emotions, and general descriptions of rooms. Clearly from the first sentence you can tell this is going to be a rip roaring, action packed adventure.