On The Commodification Of Affection In Henry James’s The Wings Of The Dove

Henry James is a master of psychological realism in literature at the end of thenineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. His international-theme fictionsmainly depict Americans’ close contact with Europeans and foreign relations betweenAmerica and Europe, of which The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903) andThe Golden Bowl (1904), three of his later works, are at the top of such a theme. With newperspectives and vivid images, The Wings of the Dove was ranked by Modern Librarytwenty-sixth on its list of the one hundred best English-language novels of the twentiethcentury in1998.“Conspicuous consumption” is first advanced by Thorstein Bunde Veblen, a leader ofthe institutional economics movement, and is defined by him as extravagant and wastefulconsumption of the leisure class. Veblen points out in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899),a differentiation in consumption begins at a point in economic evolution and the utility ofconsumption as an evidence of wealth is deemed a derivative growth. He defines this kind ofconsumption, which works as an evidence of wealth, as conspicuous consumption andconnects it to consumption of luxuries in the leisure class. In his view, luxuries and thecomforts of life belong to the leisure class; the consumption of luxuries, in the true sense, is aconsumption directed to the comfort or the good repute or the evidence of wealth and positionof the leisure class and beyond the leisure class’s minimum require for subsistence andphysical efficiency.This thesis borrows Veblen’s idea of conspicuous consumption and mainly focuses onthe heroine of The Wings of the Dove, Milly Theale’s consumption of affections to explore theleisure class’s life style and consumption concept and morality affected by consumer cultureof the Gilded Age. First, it deals with the purchase of maternal love. Milly, an heiress of NewYork, tries to find a motherly companion after a series of bereavements. Though maternal lovecosts her much, she purchases it without the least hesitation. Actually Milly’s extravagantconsumption has turned the maternal love into a commodity with a use-value, which reflectsas care, protection, and guidance from the motherly companion and meets the need of herbasic living. At the same time the extravagant consumption of the maternal love is a means of reputability for her. Second, it analyzes the possession of friendly sentiment. TraditionalBritain attracts Milly more than newly developed America. The pilgrimage to Britain is aneye-opener to her and makes her acquainted with many celebrities. To possess friendlysentiment showed by British upper class means to project status, because such friendlysentiment is quite scarce. Milly helps a celebrity solve a cash-flow problem to get herfriendship. Milly’s conspicuous consumption has made the friendly sentiment in acommercialized situation and is an important means of going deep into the British upper class,understanding British culture and grasping British civilization. Third, it examines theconsumption of lover’s affection. When Milly resides abroad and falls in love with Merton, ajournalist of London, she gets horribly sick. Hence Merton proposes to Milly for herinheritance. Hearing the truth, Milly puts the idea of marriage out of her head, but still leavesa bequest to Merton. Milly’s consumption, which is not intended for possessing love, has alsomade lover’s affection a commodity in the market. Her wasteful consumption of lover’saffection is a means of meeting the requirements in physical, psychological aspects and alsopolitical aspect, namely, maintaining good Anglo-American relations and helping Americansestablish a new image. In the conclusion it clarifies that in the Gilded Age when consumerculture flourishes, the leisure class’s conspicuous consumption of affections commercializedis a means of reputability, a symbol of affluence and a means of building up identity. In realityconspicuous consumption is the result of the alienation of the whole society, human affectionsand people themselves.