The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature (1789) is an 18th-century American sentimental novel written in epistolary form by William Hill Brown and is widely considered the first American novel. [1] The Power of Sympathy was Brown's first novel. The characters' struggles illustrate the dangers of seduction and the pitfalls of giving in to one's passions, while advocating for women's moral education and the use of rational thought as ways to prevent the consequences of such actions.
Commercial
Cover of the first edition
characters
Thomas Harrington
Myra Harrington, Thomas's sister
Harriot Fawcet, illegitimate sister of Thomas and Myra
worthy jack
Mrs. Eliza Holmes, mutual friend of the Harringtons and Harriots
Mr. Harrington, father of Thomas and Myra
Mary, Mr. Harrington's mistress and Harriot's mother
Martin and Ophelia
plot summary
Initial letters between Thomas Harrington and Jack Worthy reveal that Thomas has fallen in love with Harriot Fawcet, despite his father's reservations. Harriot resists Thomas's initial advances, as he intends to make her his mistress; readers also find that Jack encourages Thomas to abandon his licensed motives in favor of cutting Harriot off properly. However, when Thomas and Harriot become engaged, Eliza Holmes is alarmed and exposes a deep family secret to Thomas's sister, Myra: Harriot is in fact Thomas and Myra's illegitimate stepsister. Mr. Harrington's only affair with Maria Fawcet resulted in the birth of Harriot, which had to be kept secret to maintain the family's honor. Therefore, Eliza's mother-in-law, the late Mrs. Holmes, brought Maria, Thomas, and Harriot to her home. After Maria's death, Harriot was raised by a family friend, Mrs. Francisco.
Upon receiving the news of this family secret, Harriot and Thomas are devastated, as their relationship is incestuous and therefore forbidden. Harriot falls into a pain-stricken consumption, a condition now known as tuberculosis, from which he cannot recover. Thomas sinks into a deep depression and commits suicide after learning of Harriot's death.
The subplot in historical context
A subplot in the novel mirrors a local New England scandal involving the seduction of Fanny Apthorp by Brown's neighbor Perez Morton; Apthorp was Morton's sister-in-law. Apthorp became pregnant and committed suicide, but Morton was not legally punished. [2] The scandal was so well known, [3] that most readers can quickly identify the "real" story behind the fiction: "In all essential respects, the Brown story is an indictment of Morton and an exoneration of Fanny Apthorp", [4] with "Martin" and "Ophelia" standing for Morton and Apthorp, respectively.
post history
The Power of Sympathy was first published by Isaiah Thomas in Boston on January 21, 1789, [5] and sold for nine shillings. [6] The novel did not sell well. [7]
The novel was first published anonymously, but was popularly attributed to Boston poet Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton due to the resemblance between the plot and a scandal in her family; Brown was not correctly identified as the author until 1894. [8]
critical discussions
The novel has ties to American politics and nationhood, just as many early American sentimental novels can be read as allegorical accounts of the nation's development. [9] [page needed] These critics have argued that the use of moral education in these novels as a means of avoiding seduction functions as a way of showing readers the virtues and education most needed by the new American nation. Elizabeth Maddock Dillon complicates this standard reading by placing the novel within a global context marked by "the forces of colonialism, merchant capitalism, and imperialism." [10] On this reading, the workings of the novel (incest and miscegenation specifically, Dillon argues) are read not as indicative of the formation of the American nation, but as representative of the effects of colonialism in the New World.
As the title of the novel indicates, sympathy is the driving force behind the actions of various characters. The excesses of comprehensive thinking lead to tragedy; it is implied that Harrington's suicide, for example, is fueled by an over-identification with The Sorrows of Young Werther, a copy of which is found alongside her body. [11] These excesses are contrasted with the rational thinking of characters like Worthy, who strive to uphold normative social and moral ideals. While overly sympathetic characters don't survive the course
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