Henry James's Social Criticism in "The Real Thing"

by Sage Stubs

“The Real Thing,” written by Henry James, is a story that was inspired by George du Maurier.  Du Maurier was a friend of James and a fellow writer.  He began his career as an illustrator for books, and later became a novelist as well. It was actually James himself who pushed du Maurier to enter the literary world (Kelly). Henry James kept a notebook in which he wrote an entry about his short story, “The Real Thing.” In this passage, written on February 22, 1891 at the Westminster Hotel in Paris, James discussed the influence that Du Maurier had over the creation of his short story. George had told him about his own experience in which a pair of gentlefolk had approached him to work as models. Like the couple in James’ story, the pair, despite their higher social status, was unable to earn their own money (From James’s Notebooks). James was perplexed by George’s experience and went on to write “The Real Thing.”

James criticizes the social class of the English gentlefolk. He described them as “good-looking gentlefolk who had been all their life stupid and well-dressed, living, on a fixed income, at country-houses, watering places and clubs, like so many others of their class in England, and were now utterly unable to do anything, had no cleverness, no art nor craft to make use of as a gagne-pain[livelihood]” (From James’s Notebooks). In his story, the gentlefolk present themselves as being above everyone else. They expected that their good looks and social status would make them good models. They looked down on the other characters that were actual, professional models, yet from a lower class. In the end, they are proven to be useless to the artist. They lacked talent and professionalism.

The critic, George Montiero, explained how James used “The Real Thing’” to criticize the social class of the gentlefolk during his time. James demonstrates how this social type appeared to be of higher class, yet they were no better than those of lower classes. Even though the Monarchs were good looking, english gentle folk, they were “superficial, untrained, and unprofessional” compared to the real models who, in contrast, were “trained, competitive, intelligent, and qualified” (Montiero). The English gentlefolk did not have the skill to make a living for themselves. James wrote in his notebook that the gentlefolk “could only show themselves, clumsily, for the fine, clean, well-groomed animals that they were (From James’s Notebooks).”

Did you, as a reader, find this social criticism of the upper class to be apparent when you read this story?

Work Cited

"From James’s Notebooks." Henry James. Bruce Robert McElderry. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1965. 116-122. Twayne's United States Authors Series 79. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 Apr. 2012.

James, Henry. “The Real Thing.” Henry James’s Short Story. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. <http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2098/>.

Kelly, Richard. "George du Maurier: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991.Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.

Monteiro, George. "Realization in Henry James' 'The Real Thing.'." American Literary Realism 36.1 (Fall 2003): 40-50. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 108. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.