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The similes and metaphors from the fiction of Henry James may be divided into several major categories, including those of water, flower, animal, and war. (1) Each of these groups contains elements capable of being interpreted, in terms of Freudian theory, as sexually symbolic. Thus, followers of Freud would argue that water references often relate to the amniotic fluid and that swimmers are symbols of the male, ships the female. Flowers may represent the male or the female, depending upon the part stressed, but the gardens producing them or inviting one to linger are unquestionably female symbols. Some animals and their actions may be emblems of one sex or the other. And war involves gaping wounds caused by flourished knives and pistols, all of which are genital symbols. (2) In addition, other important categories into which James's images may be divided—religion and art, to name only two—contain figures which readers of Freud regard themselves as especially qualified to elucidate. However, little can be accomplished by showing again, what many individuals began to accept at least as early as the time of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, (3) that most of the heterogeneous mass of things in this world may be regarded as sexual symbols. On the other hand, much may be gained by analyzing the almost two hundred images in James's fiction used to describe men and women, and their relationships, when not only the terms but also the contexts appear sexual or at any rate suggestive.
Images containing male symbols (4) are rather rare in the fiction. Frequently they concern keys and bolts, as in a simple, general figure from the early short story “Adina.” While wondering how Sam Scrope can tolerate Adina Waddington's boisterous mother, the narrator suddenly understands.