One thing I noticed while reading Beast in the Jungle and as we were discussing it in class was that Henry Jame’s writing style changed significantly from Daisy Miller: a Study. However, it seems to be for the worse, or at least to be more confusing. One of the places it was the most prevalent was the beginning, which may have soured my view of the rest of the text so I might be a bit biased here. Take the second sentence for example:
“He had been conveyed by friends, an hour or two before, to the house at which she was staying; the party of visitors at the other house, of whom he was one, and thanks to whom it was his theory, as always, that he was lost in the crowd, had been invited over to luncheon.”
I feel like this sentence interrupts itself so many times that I can’t get a clear understanding of what’s happening. I also feel like this sentence could have been written in a much more concise way that emphasizes that Marcher was lost. However, it could also be that by writing in this way and confusing the reader, James conveys Marcher’s confusion. Father down the page, James also seems to describe the feeling of awe and wanting to own something you would see in a museum further down the first page. I had to read it a few times to understand what he was saying, and I feel like this could have also been written in a more concise way, as he seems to almost be writing in full circles before moving on to the next detail about what he’s describing.