Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Warm, Understanding
Although James's narrators can be highly snarky in his other novels, here the tone is all warmth and openheartedness.
Don't get us wrong: he takes some pleasure in exposing the hypocrisy of the adults in Maisie's world, reserving particularly bitter irony for Ida. But overall, the narrator in Maisie remains compassionate and caring—close to Maisie and even a little protective of her, as well as impressed by the feats of understanding she's able to pull off:
She still had room for wonder at what Maisie knew. (XXXI.154)
Mrs. Wix ends the story impressed and mystified by how much Maisie has learned, and how she has not ended up a bitter little hellion with all that adult knowledge inside of her tiny noggin. And we do, too—Maisie is a fascinating and sympathetic little character.
But James also shows off his own capacity for wonder at what all of his characters know—even Ida, whom he treats the most harshly, is seen through the compassionate lens of the Captain, when he says to Maisie:
"She'll go through anything for any one she likes … Look here, she's true!" (XVI.32)
The Captain may be dead wrong, ultimately, but he does lend Ida some humanity. James, an undisputed master of giving his characters psychological depth, makes us all wonder not only what Maisie knew, but what all characters—and perhaps people—knew and know.