married was awful, and yet she married him with the idea that she was happy and that he was wonderful. He was exactly the type of man that, I think, kept her from getting married at all in the beginning. But, yet as a woman she felt the obligation to follow her husbands interests and thoughts, even though she was very much against them. Henry James initially describes a character as they enter the piece, but throws bits and pieces out as the book progresses to give the reader more to chew as they read. I like this strategy because it keeps the reader interested in what is going to happen or become of their favorite/least favorite character of the piece. The best is that all while the book the reader is told that Pansy’s mother has died and that she was raised by Mr. Osmond her entire life along with the convent. Pansy is a quiet girl, listens to her father, in fact obeys her father’s every wish. She does not want to disappoint father by doing anything he has forbidden. I find it interesting it is not until almost the very end of the book that we find out that Pansy is the daughter of Mrs. Merle and Mr. Osmond, during a 7-8 year affair. This is a character that James does not reveal much about, Mrs. Merle, only that she is a widow and a friend of Mrs. Touchett. I feel this information was key to the entire plot of the book, because knowing such things may have swayed the decision of Isabel to even be aquanted with either Mr. Osmond or Mrs. Merle in a friendly fashion.I see a character transition of Isabel, from a bright young vibrant adventurous lady, to a wife and mother to Pansy, with worries and responsibilities. Throughout the reading several characters note on how she has ‘changed’, which I don’t think she sees herself, until the day with her cousin when he is dying. Until that day, she knows she has made a terrible decision and will live with it, but does not tell anyone about it nor recogn...
