The American 2

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the world is in his hands and that with his money he is there to enjoy it. He goes to Europe thinking that Europe will welcome and admire his wealth, and he is not set astray by the rich culture and heritage of Europe. James introduces the novel with a description of Newman walking through the infamous Louvre in Paris, “It was a typical vagueness which is not vacuity, that blankness which is not simplicity, that look of being committed to nothing in particular, of standing in an attitude of general hospitality to the chances characteristic of many American faces” (James 20). Newman represents the typical American, and turns his back on all material things so that he is enriched in what he is experiencing at the moment. He sees himself as a free person standing in a world which seems to be working with him. (Banta 154) Newman’s life had always been based on the material things, and now he was ready for something new. As Newman is reflecting with Mr. ...

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his life, and now he was already thinking of art-patronage a fascinating pursuit.” (James 29) Newman’s desperate attempt to engage himself in the European culture shows that he thinks buying the art makes him automatically in it. (Mitchell 5) He thinks that he can buy his way into the culture. Newman feel that he did the right thing by purchasing art and learning some of the French language: “I don’t know how much French our friend learned; but, as he himself said, if the attempt did him no good, it could at any rate do him no harm.” (James 60) Newman thinks that buy learning the language of the culture that he is engrossed in he can become a part of it. ...

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