Telegrams

These blue little notes are basically how people texted each other back in the old days. They could travel across the ocean much faster than letters, but you could only fit a limited number of words on them (like Twitter, but without the smart phone and even more in code).

Whenever Strether receives one of these little notes, we know it has to be something that can't wait, because back in 1903, someone would have to pay top dollar to get these messages out quickly. More specifically, telegrams tend to carry bad news to Strether.

For example, the first telegram he receives is from Waymarsh: "A telegram from him [Waymarsh] bespeaking a room 'only if not noisy,' reply paid, was produced for the enquirer at the office" (1.1.1). This note tells both Strether and us that Waymarsh is pretty picky about his rooming. And, that he's probably going to be cranky when he arrives in Europe, which is bad news for anyone looking for a spot of amusement.

For the rest of the novel, telegrams tend to tell Strether that he's in big trouble with Mrs. Newsome. The sheer sight of the little blue paper is enough to make him gulp with nervousness, as we see at the beginning of Book 7, Chapter 2: "He read his telegram in the court, standing still a long time where he had opened it and giving five minutes afterwards to the renewed study of it. At last, quickly, he crumpled it up as if to get it out of the way; in spite of which, however, he kept it there—" (7.2.1). That's like a real bad text from last night.

The fact that we never find out exactly what this telegram says, this image helps James show us how much of a hold Mrs. Newsome has over Strether's conscience. He wants badly to throw her words away, but can't. He crumples them up, but still carries them with him, kind of like his feelings for Mrs. Newsome and the weight of his sad, wasted youth.