# Strether — Aspects of the Novel character guide

> Strether in Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0005-iii-people

## Snapshot

James's ambassador to Paris, sent to retrieve a straying young man and instead seduced by the city into doubting the mission he was given.

## Who they are

Strether lands in England already uneasy, and by the time he reaches Paris his orders have begun to dissolve — Chad Newsome is not ruined but improved, and the city that redeemed him gleams like a hard, iridescent jewel. His great fear is that liking Paris too much will give his authority away, and that fear becomes the novel's moral weather. He matters because he is the consciousness through which everything is seen, and because his slow conversion from envoy to advocate is the arc on which the book turns.

## Relationships

### [Chad Newsome](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/chad_newsome)

_friendship_

Strether is sent to bring Chad back to America but becomes his friend and mentor, admiring his transformation.

### [Mme. de Vionnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/mme_de_vionnet)

_friendship_

Strether develops a deep, respectful friendship with Mme. de Vionnet, though it is tinged with moral complexity.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/strether
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters