American Realism and Naturalism

One of the primary questions William Dean Howells' asks in his novel A Modern Instance is whether the newly experienced modernity of his time affects people's inherent set of ethics. Consequently, the characters in his novel find themselves at a moment of great transformation in American history in which the promises and opportunities of the future are constantly monitored and evaluated against the past. The reader thus faces constant juxtapositions of the old and the new, the quaint small town against the big city, traditional marriage against divorce, orthodoxy against libertarianism and relatively new professions like journalism against the established and esteemed practice of law, to name only a few. The question of whether this newfound modernity compromises a person's morals is always at the heart of A Modern Instance.

This paper deals with a psychological analysis of the novel's main character Bartley Hubbard in light of his relationship to Ben Halleck. Unlike Halleck's friend Atherton and Bartley's father-in-law Squire Gaylord, Ben is not a figure representative of traditional morals and beliefs and thus not in direct opposition to the image of the modern man which characterizes Bartley. Rather, Ben best reflects the struggles of his generation because he himself is constantly torn between the conventional past and the contemporary and progressive life-style as it emerges around him.

Ben's orthodox background stands in stark contrast to Bartley. Bartley's character appears without context and the fact that the reader knows little to nothing about his upbringing works just as much in Bartley's favor as it works against him. Hubbard's lack of a personal backdrop functions on a more general level, as well. Bartley is disconnected to history. This is problematic because his character lacks a foundation of morals and an understanding and appreciation of the past. However, Bartley's detachment from tradition explains Howells' portrayal of him as the quintessential modern American. He is undoubtedly a self-made man who prides himself on his achievements, an accomplishment which, to this day, is deeply connected to the American ideal of liberty and independence. Howells himself wavers between a certain sense of admiration for Bartley and at the same time fears his moral decay.

It is not surprising then that Bartley Hubbard is equipped with incredibly good looks - Ben admits that he is "regrettably handsome" (213) - and a stunning appearance that further aids him on his path to upward mobility. Ben, on the other hand, is handicapped and thus not as fortunate as Bartley when it comes to controlling and influencing matters in his life. In Bartley, there is a strong feeling of entitlement that enables him to flirt with as many women as he likes and find employment that suits his taste and financial demands. His success is built on a strong belief in himself coupled with a dose of charm and humor with which he approaches life. Bartley does not ask for things in life but rather takes them, convinced of the fact that he is privileged. An early description of Bartley, however, hints at his moral flaws: " … in this charming tone and with this delightful insinuation, he often said things that hurt; but with such a humorous glance from his softly shaded eyes that people felt in some sort flattered at being taken into the joke, even while they winced under it" (8). This early characterization of Bartley points to his unscrupulous manner of exploiting other people's feelings in utter unawareness of tact and respect. However, it also serves to show Bartley's charisma and attractiveness with which he manipulates those around him. Ben's handicap then stands in contrast not only to Bartley's physical appearance but also to Bartley's inability to form truly empathetic inter-human relationships. Speaking of the accident that led to Ben's handicap, Ben's mother states of her son that "he was always just so from the first!" (250). Ben's morals prevent him from seeking revenge.
The contrasting first impressions of Bartley and Ben are further complicated by the perspective through which the reader gains insight into the characters. Here, it is mostly the narrator delivering an image of Bartley that is, while somewhat morally problematic, overall respectful to his character. Ben, on the other hand, through the parental angle with which we see him, turns into a child. Bartley's ethics might be questioned but he is never emasculated in the way that Howell chooses to portray Ben. The old Mr. Halleck, Ben's father, mentions his son's ambivalent nature when stating that "he's been a good while settling down" (201) while Marcia and Ben's mother "went on to talk of their children, and in the community of motherhood, they spoke of the young man (Ben) as if he were still an infant" (249). In this context, Ben loses his manhood in front of Marcia, which serves to further elevate Bartley in her mind. Marcia's preference for perceiving her husband as faultless against all other men culminates in her first meeting with Ben where she admits to herself that "she would not have liked even a man who knew Bartley before she did to be very handsome" (215).

In this first meeting, Marcia's beauty "quite abashed Halleck, who limped helplessly about, after his cane had been taken away from him, before he sat down" (215). In Marcia's presence, as it is here implied, Ben becomes weak. He loses not only his ability to reason but also his strong sense of right and wrong, good and evil, he loses himself. Bartley, however, never experiences weakness and helplessness like Ben does when being with Marcia. He is always presumably superior to her. Therefore, he does not understand Ben's concern with morals. However, Bartley's apparent strength is also his biggest weakness. Due to the fact that he never loses ground, Bartley may not learn how to built himself back up again. Even in his darkest moments, Bartley blames others for his situation rather than questioning his own involvement. Ben thus illuminates Bartley's inability for character development and growth. His worry over morals is evident in every single encounter with Marcia. In one of their first meetings, Howells portrays Ben as looking inward - "He was troubled, moreover, as to what the truth was in his own mind" (248) as if indicating that his love for Marcia irritates him and that he questions its ethical righteousness. On another occasion, "[Ben] durst not to look at [Marcia], not for what he should see in her face, but for what she should see in his; the anguish of intelligence, the helpless pity" (299). Here, Ben is concerned not only with how his own moral decay - as he perceives it - affects himself but more importantly, how it affects those around him. In Ben's doing so, Howells transfers individual behavior onto a broader societal level by asking how a personal compromise of ethics may lead to the moral bankruptcy of society as a whole. The new modernity as experienced and expressed by Howell's characters in A Modern Instance, however, does not necessarily need to lead to a decay of morals but rather asks for a reevaluation of past tradition in order for a new set of ethics to emerge. The novel thus fittingly ends with an expression of doubt - "Ah, I don't know! I don't know!" (453) where the character of Atherton questions the values of the past but at the same time gives hope for new opportunities.