For this week’s blog post I want to talk about one of my favorite classic short stories that you probably haven’t read, but I love. I love this short story so much that I wrote an entire essay about it in high school by my own choosing. Analyzing the themes of this book was one of the most simple joys I experienced during my senior year (yes, I am a book report connoisseur), and it’s all because of the most wonderful, simple soul of a character leading the narrative. This short story is “Brooksmith” by Henry James and I can’t wait to discuss it with you all.
For context, “Brooksmith” is the story, inspired by reality to some degree, about a butler by the name of Brooksmith. The narrative delves into how high-class society appears from the perspective of a domestic worker, and how critical domestic workers are to the functioning of high society. James realizes how intriguing this insight is considering servants return to lives that are drastically different from the societies they attend to while working, living in a class of life that so intensely juxtaposes their day jobs.
The plot of this story is driven by the death of Brooksmith’s master, Mr. Offard, and traces the impact it has on Brooksmith’s life when he is left with no choice but to return to the lifestyle of his own class, rather than attending to Mr. Offard’s wonderful, wealthy residence in Arcadia (Arcadia as in a place of beauty, nature, and wonder, free from the harsh realities of the world).
One aspect of this blog that I will try to maintain is not spoiling the plot of the book, but I will disclose my favorite thing to nerd out over in this book is in the last paragraph, and that is what I’m going to take a magnifying glass to today. Nevertheless, please check out this short story if it interests you, it’s such an amazing premise.
So, the quote in question is this one:
“I trust that, with characteristic deliberation, he [Brooksmith] is changing the plates of the immortal gods.”
At this moment, the narrator of the story imagines a missing Brooksmith as a domestic servant, even in a fantasy afterlife. It is almost as though Brooksmith’s humanity is stripped away from him, any interests, passions, desires outside of labor, do not exist, and I find it incredibly sad. Even still, I don’t think that was even James’ intention with this visualization.
Due to Henry James being on the opposite side of the butler master relationship, I think this is actually meant to be a sentimental depiction of the afterlife for Brooksmith, in which he is fulfilled and happy working as a butler, because James was unable to separate the butler from the Booksmith, so to speak. Though Henry James obviously had empathy for domestic workers in writing this book, I still think excerpts like this leave room for contemplation about how in touch with this issue James could possibly be.
All this being said, I would love to know what you guys think (and it would help to read the story, but no pressure): Did Henry James intentionally have the narrator imagine Brooksmith as a butler more than a multifaceted human, or did Henry James himself struggle to truly understand the humanity of domestic workers due to his well-off position in society?
Thank you so much for reading, I will probably discuss more on “Brooksmith” because I love it so much, but we’ll see! See y’all next week!
This sounds super interesting. I find it especially intriguing that the author was an upper class person who hired servants and butlers himself. That must give a whole new dimension to the story, because instead of being an eye-opening tale about the disparities between the lavish lifestyle of the master and the lower class lifestyle of the servant from the perspective of that servant, it’s really just what the master thinks the servant’s perspective is. I’ll have to read it. I wonder how much the story reveals his ignorance, or perhaps, insight, into the lives of his servants.
It is so intriguing how literature allows us to look back and examine the thoughts and beliefs of people from the past. I think that the visualization of Brooksmith as only a butler instead of a multifaceted human could’ve been a conscious decision, but for a different reason. In the case of Brooksmith, he got to see the lavish lives of the upper class while still being in the lower class. This visualization could possibly be another way of showing the working class’s constant yearning to rise to the upper class and live as close to their lifestyle as possible. The juxtaposition of his servant job, that you pointed out earlier, somewhat parallels this concept. The story of Brooksmith seems like it provides some very interesting insights, and I am excited to hear more about it. Great post!
Based on the blog posts that you have done so far, I can tell that you have a diverse and immense knowledge on literature. The majority of these books I have never heard before but all seem very interesting and filled with their own unique and desirable stories. This one in particular seems to have symbolic meaning throughout and I can see myself enjoying it if I ever decide to read as much as I did in the past. Keep up the great work and good job.