The Patagonia (1888) like many of James’s other stories, has its origins in an anecdote relayed to him over the dinner table a story which he elaborated and refined. It is also his ‘response’ to a very similar tale by Anthony Trollope called The Journey to Panama which also features a young woman on a long sea voyage going to meet the man to whom she is betrothed. It’s also another variation on his Daisy Miller theme the ‘new type’ of woman or the ‘self-made girl’ who pushes against the boundaries of social convention at a cost to herself.
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Nineteenth century transatlantic steamer
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The Patagonia plot summary
An unnamed middle-aged narrator calls on his friend Mrs Nettlepoint the day before they are due to sail from Boston to Liverpool on The Patagonia. Her son Jasper is not sure if he will accompany them or not. But when they are joined by the attractive Grace Mavis, who will also be on the voyage, Jasper suddenly decides to go with them. Grace, who is thirty, has been engaged for ten years to David Porterfield, a student of architecture in Paris, and she is going there to marry him apparently with little enthusiasm.
On board, Jasper is very attentive to Grace, so much so that passengers begin to gossip about them. Mrs Nettlepoint even suspects that Grace might have designs on her son. All available evidence suggests that some sort of romantic relationship is developing between the two of them. The narrator and Mrs Nettlepoint are alarmed at this development. She feels maternally protective towards her son, and the narrator thinks that Grace’s reputation is being compromised. They feel that they should warn and reprimand the two younger characters.
Mrs Nettlepoint challenges Grace, who defends herself by saying that she is doing nothing wrong. When the narrator points out to Jasper that his behaviour is putting Grace in a socially invidious position, he is told virtually to mind his own business.
Gossip about the affair continues, Jasper’s and Grace’s behaviour becomes erratic, but there is no resolution, until finally Grace jumps overboard in the middle of the night. The narrator is then faced with the difficulty of breaking the news to her fianc？ who meets the ship as it docks at Liverpool.
