THE CONCEPT OF INNOCENCE IN HENRY JAMES’S THE WINGS OF THE DOVE

IN HIS INTERNATIONAL NOVELS, HENRY JAMES INCLUDED AN ELABORATED MODEL OF MORAL AND CULTURAL CONTRAST BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA WITH THE PURPOSE OF HIGHLIGHTING THE AMERICAN‟S INNOCENCE. JAMES‟S AMERICAN CHARACTERS REPRESENT VITALITY, FRESHNESS, B EAUTY, INNOCENCE AND FREEDOM, AS THEY ARE OPEN TO EXPERIENCE. A VITAL ASPECT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOVELS IS WHETHER THE AMERICAN CAN PRESERVE THIS QUALITY AGAINST A SPACE OF VICE AND COMPLEXITY. IN THE WINGS OF THE DOVE THE SELF BECOMES AN OTHER TO THE OTHER. MILLY THEALE BEGINS TO DISCOVER THAT SHE CAN USE THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE AMERICAN GIRL, OF DOVE OR PRINCESS TO HER OWN ADVANTAGE. SHE IS AWARE OF HER INNOCENCE, SELF -CONSCIOUS OF IT AND IT IS PRESENTED IN IRONIC JUXTAPOSITION TO HER POWER AND WEAL TH. THE IMAGE OF THE DOVE WITH WHICH SHE IS ASSOCIATED IS OBVIOUSLY A SYMBOL OF INNOCENCE. SHE BELIEVES THE DOVE -LIKE QUALITIES ARE THE REASON FOR NOT HAVING ACCESS TO THE ORDINARY EXPERIENCES OF LIFE. SHE CONSCIOUSLY ADOPTS THIS ROLE, SPREADING HER WINGS IN PROTECTION AND EVEN REDEMPTION OF THE WORLD THAT SHE LEAVES BEHIND THROUGH DEATH. Innocence and purit y represents one of the conventional motifs often met in the literary works, being an ordinary concept, but important for humanity. Moreover, it is a defining aspect for the beginning of a Native American mythology. In the nineteenth century, the authentic American as a figure of heroic innocence and vast potentialities,

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