50 pages • 1-hour read
The Master
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Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to mental illness, depression, and suicide.
Chapter 7 Summary: “April 1898”
William sends Henry news of a Civil War memorial that will be dedicated to the unit in which their brother Wilky served. This development causes Henry to reflect on his childhood. He was close to his brother William as a boy, just as his brothers Wilky and Bob were close to one another. While William and Henry were studious and serious, Wilky and Bob were loud and entirely uninterested in academics. Wilky and Bob caused their father a great deal of consternation, and he always paid more attention to William and Henry’s education than to their brothers’. Although their father lived off his inheritance and did not truly work, he was interested in philosophy and sometimes gave lectures.
After William left to attend Harvard, Henry recalls becoming interested in translation. He began to shut himself up in his room to work, and his mother supported him in his endeavors, understanding that Henry was not sure what to do with his adult life. She was pleased to see him developing interests that might propel him toward a career. At this time, the Civil War was raging, and Henry’s father grew increasingly interested in the conflict. He longed for one of his sons to join the fight, but their mother disagreed and hoped that all of her sons would remain safe. In order to avoid his father’s pressure that he enlist in the Union army, Henry informed his parents of his intent to study law at Harvard with William. He began to read more often, becoming interested in Nathaniel Hawthorne and other American authors.
The war raged on, and Wilky, Bob, and one of Henry’s cousins joined the Union army. Their cousin was killed by a sniper’s bullet in Virginia. Wilky was then injured at Fort Wagner; he was part of a regiment that also included Black soldiers, and the Confederates had pledged to hang every white officer that they could capture alive. Wilky was lucky not to be taken by the enemy, but he was shot in the side and the foot. Because he languished for days in a field hospital that had no staff to treat patients, his wounds became infected. By chance, a family friend spotted him while looking for his own wounded son and transported him back to Newport. Wilky convalesced slowly, in great pain. William returned to Harvard, but Henry did not. Word reached them that Bob remained well and with his regiment. It was during this time that Henry’s first story was published. His father disapproved, and William mocked him, but Henry recalls being thrilled to have found a true direction and purpose.
Chapter 8 Summary: “June 1898”
Constance Fenimore Woolson, one of Henry’s close friends, dies by suicide in Venice. Henry is saddened by the news but stays busy and distracts himself from his sorrow. He enjoys living at Lamb House and has employed a team of servants to help run the estate. When one of his kitchen staff, Mrs. Smith, asks to install her convalescent sister in the guest room, Henry allows it. Even when the woman receives a cancer diagnosis that prolongs her stay in his home, Henry agrees to let her stay. Initially, he feels magnanimous, but he eventually comes to regret this decision. Mrs. Smith becomes too familiar with him, and her husband begins drinking more openly. Mrs. Smith also begins to drink, and her appearance becomes “slovenly.”
For the first time in his life, Henry is enjoying the prospect of entertaining visitors regularly, but Mrs. Smith resents the additional work that such events require. One day, she becomes “belligerent” when Henry tells her that a new guest will be coming, and he grows increasingly uncomfortable in his own home. The constantly inebriated Mr. Smith struggles to serve food properly, and Henry’s third servant, Burgess, has to help him. Henry is frustrated but does not know how to remedy the situation.
When his friend Lily visits, he tries to hide the Smiths’ condition from her, but she does eventually notice Mr. Smith’s inebriated state, particularly at mealtimes. Lily has excellent manners and does not mention the issue, but Henry is mortified by the knowledge that she has become aware of the difficulties in his household. However, Lily does mention the issue of Constance’s suicide, making it clear that she blames Henry for leaving Venice when he knew that Constance was struggling emotionally. Constance had battled melancholy throughout her adult life, and Lily is adamant that Henry should have taken a more active role in her care. Henry mulls this over and feels intense guilt, but he is not as certain as Lily that his presence would have saved Constance’s life.
The Smiths’ condition worsens. Henry is not sure how Mrs. Smith can even prepare meals, and Mr. Smith is less and less able to serve them. When Burgess shows Henry a massive pile of empty bottles, Henry decides that he must let the pair go. He learns that they have no savings; they have spent the entirety of their salaries on alcohol and are in debt to several liquor vendors in Rye. He provides them with a generous severance, but he knows that they will not be able to find further employment in their condition. When they have exhausted their family’s limited means to help them, they will be in dire straits. He finds the entire situation depressing and wonders how much of the issue is common knowledge in town.
Chapter 9 Summary: “March 1899”
Henry goes traveling again. He enjoys touring Paris with his nieces, but at age 56, he feels as though he is outgrowing the culture of young people. He wonders if he would be able to enjoy Italy in the way that he did as a young man, and he doubts it. Thoughts of Italy turn his mind toward the late Constance, and he reflects on their friendship. They had met by way of a letter of introduction, and he recalls feeling an instant kinship with her. As the grand-niece of author James Fenimore Cooper, Constance was also a writer and a lover of literature. She was a contemplative, sensitive soul who cherished her solitude but was prone to bouts of severe loneliness and depression, especially during the winter and whenever she was separated from friends and family. Henry had kept their friendship largely secret from his family, as they often seized upon any potential interest that he showed in a woman, and he did not want to be pressured to propose marriage to her. His friendship with Constance continued for years as they both moved about Europe, settling in one city for a time and then leaving for another. At one point, he remembers receiving a letter from her. She had just visited mutual friends whose house she recognized from his descriptions in Portrait of a Lady. Her tone was warm, but Henry had taken offense because he had no wish to discuss the source material for his novels; in his reply, he did not mention her observations.
Henry also spent time with Constance when they were both living in Florence. He rented an apartment that was ultimately too dark and cramped, and Constance arranged for him to move into the lower floors of the house she was renting. The two had separate quarters but shared staff. He enjoyed their time together in Florence and remained in close contact with her as the two left and moved through separate cities. After his sister Alice died, he remained in London, and Constance wrote to tell him that she was to return to Venice. The two remained in touch and began to meet for one- or two-day visits in various European cities. He considered her one of his closest friends, but they kept their friendship somewhat secret in order to prevent gossip and keep his family from pressuring him to propose.
Eventually, however, their correspondence ebbed. It was during this time that Henry received a telegram informing him of Constance’s death. Henry was grief-stricken when he finally learned the cause. He had thought that she was overcoming her melancholia, and he could not accept that she had taken her own life. He traveled to Venice and spent time with the friends and family settling Constance’s estate. When her family left town without attending to her clothing, Henry dropped a few of her dresses into the Venetian canals in a private burial ceremony.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
This set of chapters uses a family conflict to shed light on Henry’s character and to emphasize his extreme bookishness in comparison to the inclinations of the rest of his family. Although Henry’s father is a public intellectual in his own right, he wants his sons to be men of action, and Henry’s own intellectual habits therefore become a source of disappointment. In a moment of contrast, Henry Sr., who has always encouraged his sons to be philosophers and cosmopolitans, urges them to join the Union Army. This formative period in Henry’s life forces him to realize that he must define himself independently and resist the plan that his father has callously set out for him. He becomes interested first in translation and then in writing. When the young Henry recognizes that his brother William is more active, outgoing, and decisive, he finds inner strength and purpose in his own intellectual pursuits, finding a unique way to assert himself and claim his place in the world.
However, Henry’s habitual lack of assertiveness reveals him to be a man of contemplation rather than action, and nowhere are his inclinations more apparent than during the scenes in which he struggles to discipline his erring, besotted servants at Lamb House. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith develop a ruinous alcohol addiction that interferes with their ability to perform their duties. Although the situation is distressing to Henry, he dithers indecisively for months, paralyzed by the thought of addressing the issue head-on. This anguished hesitation reflects a different facet of The Pain of Repression and Self-Denial, for rather than taking action to correct the ills of his household, he allows an untenable situation to fester because he fears confronting the problem. Much more accustomed to thinking about life than actively living it, he ultimately suffers from an extreme inability to be direct.
His anguish is further heightened by his acute awareness of his neighbors’ opinions; he is sure that the entire town of Rye knows about the Smiths’ drinking problems, and he worries about the damage that the situation will do to his reputation. He visualizes his neighbors judging him and observing him “closely as he walks through town” (209). Moments like this reveal the extent to which Henry, even as an avowed introvert, remains connected to the affluent society into which he was born. Although he much prefers to heed The Lure of Solitude, he knows that he has an image to maintain, and he worries that he might lose his hard-won social standing.
This set of chapters also includes an in-depth character study of Henry’s friend Constance, whose presence in his life contextualizes Henry’s quirks and serves as an homage to the historical figure of Henry James and his writing. In the world of literary analysis, James’s works have long been known for their psychological complexity and character-driven narratives. By replicating that formula in his fictionalized account of James’s life, Tóibín creates a subtle nod to a writer whom he considers to be one of the “greats.” The Master also parallels James’s work by illustrating much of Henry’s characterization via his inner monologue. In this set of chapters especially, Henry’s observations become a stream of consciousness: a technique that characterizes many of James’s later writings.
Constance’s story also highlights Henry’s need for connection in spite of his introversion. He tends to bond with people whom he considers kindred spirits, and he and Constance share many traits and interests. Like Henry, she is artistic, sensitive, and introverted, and they are both more interested in intellectual pursuits than social events, even though they are both bound to meet specific societal obligations. Constance is also characterized by her struggles with mental illness and experiences bouts of depression, especially in the winter. Her suicide becomes a source of grief for Henry, especially as he contends with Lily’s accusation that he was not as good a friend to Constance as he could have been. Notably, during moments of grief and loss, Henry retreats into his own mind, and in this instance, he uses Constance’s death as an impetus to reflect on her life and their relationship. These ruminations are ultimately fueled by his desire to better understand himself, and he soon realizes that human connection does matter to him, even though he often prefers his own company. Thus, Constance’s intellectualism and cosmopolitan outlook teach Henry to value these qualities in himself, and he realizes that his beliefs and values are much more firmly established than he once believed them to be.
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