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26 pages 52 minutes read

Henry James

The Jolly Corner

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1908

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Literary Devices

Irony

Irony is a literary device that involves a gap between expectation and reality. “The Jolly Corner” employs irony on multiple levels, beginning with its title, which references Spencer Brydon’s childhood home. Its name implies that this setting would be cheerful or optimistic; however, it is exactly the opposite. Brydon has come into the possession of his ancestral home through the death of various family members, including his two brothers. The house is therefore associated with loss and mourning, although Brydon initially regards it fondly, through the lens of nostalgia for his childhood. This hints at a degree of self-absorption, as does another ironic element: that the house, in which he senses an “unexpected occupant,” turns out to be haunted not by one of Brydon’s deceased relatives but by his own alter ego.

The irony of the house’s cheerful name is further compounded after Brydon’s encounter with that alter ego, which deeply disturbs him. There is also irony in the fact that a house that evokes New York City’s less urbanized past should be the residence of Brydon’s alter ego, whom he imagines to be a businessman at home in the modern city. This tension suggests The Discontinuity of Identity within Brydon himself, which he never fully reconciles.

Similes

A simile uses “like” or “as” to compare two apparently dissimilar things. Henry James uses similes throughout the story, often to illuminate characters’ psychology. The recurring flower image is one example: Brydon thinks of Alice Staverton “as some pale, pressed flower” (Chapter 1, Paragraph 4). Brydon’s comparison of Alice to a flower—a conventional symbol of beauty—hints at his attraction to her. The idea that she has been preserved communicates his sense of her steadfastness, which he admires amid the city’s changeability and the vagaries of his own life. Alice makes him feel as though he can access some primordial part of himself unaffected by his experiences: “They had communities of knowledge, […] presences of the other age, presences all overlaid, in his case, […] by ‘Europe’ in short, but still unobscured […] under that pious visitation of the spirit from which she had never been diverted” (Chapter 1, Paragraph 4).  Whether Brydon’s interpretation of Alice’s character is accurate remains highly ambiguous, as the story unfolds through his unreliable perspective.

Other notable similes concern Brydon’s feelings as he searches for his alter ego in the empty house; he likens himself to a “monstrous stealthy cat” and imagines that he feels “as he believe[s] gentlemen on Bengal tiger-shoots” do (Chapter 2, Paragraph 5). The comparisons to hunters of various kinds suggest his need to control and dominate his alternate self. That he instead recoils when he meets his alter ego implies that the similes were an expression of overconfidence, though the implication that Brydon and his “predatory” alter ego are not so dissimilar suggests the language might have been apt after all.

Imagery

Imagery involves language that appeals to one of the five senses. James largely relies on visual imagery. For example, Chapter 2 contains a lengthy description of the jolly corner: its old marble, the black and white squares, and the crystal tableware. Everything about the house is pristine, underscoring its symbolism as a relic of Brydon’s youth and a bygone American era.

Later, James uses tactile and olfactory imagery to describe the comfort Brydon feels as he wakes up on Alice’s lap, soft, supported, and surrounded by a pleasant scent. The story explicitly compares this comfort to the “coldness” of the house’s tile floors, contrasting Alice and the house to suggest Brydon may find refuge from the latter with the former.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing occurs when an author hints at later narrative events. It is an especially common technique in the mystery and horror genres, which rely heavily on suspense. For example, when Alice and Brydon are touring the jolly corner, Brydon offhandedly remarks that the house “must swarm” with ghosts. This lays the groundwork for Brydon to meet the ghost of his alter ego. Similarly, Chapter 1 ends with the idea that Alice has dreamed about an alternate version of Spencer, foreshadowing not only the appearance of that alter ego but also the dream that will prompt her to save him from his encounter with his double.

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