Morris also tutors her five children in Spanish, as a means of earning his keep. Morris lives with her and regularly borrows money. Montgomery is a widow with a very small income, though she maintains a respectable and tidy home. Sloper disregards Catherine's feelings, Elizabeth criticizes him as "shockingly cold-hearted." Mrs. At the same time, she is kind and sympathetic towards Catherine, especially when it becomes clear that Morris has less than noble reasons for becoming engaged to Catherine. Unlike Lavinia, Elizabeth has a rational temperament.
Almond is Catherine's "Aunt Almond" and Dr. Sloper dies, Morris returns to Catherine hoping to court her. Sloper goes to his deathbed believing that Catherine intends to marry Morris. Sloper makes it clear that he will disinherit Catherine (should she marry Morris), Morris has no alternative but to abandon Catherine. Morris intends to marry Catherine and enjoy her fortune, but when Dr.
He lives off his impoverished widowed sister, Mrs. We soon learn that Morris is not intentionally hurtful, but he is irredeemably selfish. Morris is a distant cousin of Arthur Townsend and Arthur is marrying Marian Almond (Catherine's cousin). Morris is a young man who has blown into town, having been around the world and blow his own small fortune in a mater of a few years. Despite her meddlesome inquisitiveness and her unwillingness to accept reality, Aunt Penniman remains an individual with only good intentions. She even waits 17 years for another chance to bring the two former lovers back together again. In the face of many good and rational reasons why Morris and Catherine do not belong together, Lavinia hopefully persists. Catherine is not at all romantic but Aunt Penniman works hard to bring Morris Townsend and Catherine together. Aunt Penniman functions as Catherine's mother and when Catherine reaches late adolescence, Aunt Penniman beings entertaining notions of Catherine meeting a young man and embarking upon some form of romantic adventure. Sloper and his daughter Catherine not long after Dr. The widow of a penniless clergyman, the eccentric and overly dramatic Lavinia comes to live with Dr. Between Morris Townsend's betrayal and her father's cruelty, Catherine gets more than her fair share of suffering. As the novel progresses, Catherine discovers that she is intelligent and she gains the courage to defy her father. Sloper would prefer a daughter who was "clever" and for all of Aunt Penniman's instruction, Catherine has remained not-so-clever in her father's eyes. It is not at all difficult for Catherine to be "good," but Dr. As a young girl and even as a young woman, Catherine finds herself unable to live up to her father's paradigm of what a good daughter would be. Catherine SloperĬatherine is the heroine of the novel and for most of the novel, Catherine is surrounded by dominating individuals who seek to make decisions for her. When it counts most - in his family - the doctor's skills are judged and are found wanting. And Sloper's celebrity is of little use in swaying Catherine to obey his wishes. A famous doctor, Sloper cannot save his wife or son from death once they take ill. Sloper knows both of these facts so well - the contrast between his highs and lows is significant. Sloper is so intelligent - and especially because Dr. Sloper is a great man of society, a local celebrity in Washington Square. Sloper often neglects to credit these two (adult) individuals with their due respect. Even in his interactions with his two sisters, Lavinia Penniman and Elizabeth Almond, Dr. Sloper becomes a largely symbolic father figure. Sloper's clever mind and admittedly accurate criticism of Catherine's suitor, Morris Townsend, make it difficult to write the doctor off as a simple villain. Certainly, he treats his daughter, Catherine, harshly. Doctor Austin Sloper is among Henry James' most complex characters.
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