The Ambassadors (Annotated - Includes Essay and Biography)

Lambert Strether has arrived in Paris from Woollett, Massachusetts, at the behest of Mrs. Newsome. She is both his fiance and his employer. Strether is an ambassador for America in the sense that Mrs. Newsome wants him to convince her son Chad to return home. She believes that life in Paris, particularly his French mistress, is corrupting him. Lambert, at first at odds with the Paris lifestyle eventually comes to feel that it is right for Chad as he is happier and more civilized than he had been at home.