Date of Award
1989
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Pearce, Howard D.
Abstract
In The Awkward Age James dramatizes social evolution by contrasting two opposing punctilios. Mr. Longdon is heir to the classic codes of behavior, codes that emphasize protection of the woman, that stress privacy, as well as the correspondence between inner feelings and outer actions. Mrs. Brook and her set react against what this punctilio has become in modern society: mere form. They renounce the old punctilio as fraudulent and replace it with a code that emphasizes freedom, one that violates the most cherished canons of Mr. Longdon's punctilio. Yet their freedom is tainted by their knowledge of the old ways. They cannot abandon the past and are caught between old and new in the process of change, unable to act or to speak their minds. Ignorant of the past, Nanda discovers the need to evolve her own punctilio.
Extent
62 p.
Recommended Citation
Wolff, Catherine M., "Punctilio in Henry James's "The Awkward Age"" (1989). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1980 - 1989. 761.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_3/761
Identifier
FADT14549
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1989.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters