Themes
Inverted order
The comedy runs on reversal. English visitors 'prefer buffaloes to Boston', and in America the child educates the parent: 'every American child spends most of its time in correcting the faults of its father and mother', a boy of eleven or twelve warns his father against 'late hours', and the old adage is turned into 'Parents should be seen, not heard.' The gentlest reversal comes at the end: because she loves without romance or humility, the American girl 'makes an excellent wife.'
Charm without seriousness
Wilde's American girl is charming because she is never earnest. She talks 'brilliantly upon any subject, provided that she knows nothing about it', her thoughts 'flutter about with the sweet irresponsibility of butterflies', and the chief secret of American girls' charm is that 'they never talk seriously except about amusements.' He treats her conquest of London, her taste for titles and her race for coronets as a delight rather than a threat.