Daisy Miller by Henry James (December 2-3, 2003)
Daisy Miller is a young American girl traveling
in Europe. Frederick Winterbourne is instantly intrigued by Daisy and her
fresh nature after meeting her Vevey. He is protective of her,
but realizes she is making mistakes and breaking unspoken rules.
He
believes her
to be innocent of her social blunders, and it never occurs to him that she
is deliberately being rebellious in refusing to follow the cultural
rules of society. Daisy's pleasure and amusement are her priority, and she
tells the truth rather than calculating to move up the social ladder.
When Winterbourne’s aunt refuses to meet Daisy, she knows that his family does not consider her to be a social equal. He agrees to meet her in Rome. When he arrives, she is being talked about for her familiarity with the Italian men. In particular, people gossip about her and Giovanelli, but she refuses to tell Winterbourne if she is engaged to him.
Meanwhile, Daisy is
excluded little by little from society and dies of Roman fever.
Winterbourne receives
a letter too late from Daisy saying she was never engaged and that she remembered
their time in Geneva fondly.
This nouvelle is written in the third person, leaving the reader without a
complete understanding of Daisy. The view of her is most often filtered through
Winterbourne’s
perspective. Does
he truly understand Daisy? Is she ignorantly blundering, or is she purposefully
striving for
freedom?
In spite of seeming to understand her need for respect and her letter, Winterbourne
returns to his old ways, apparently unaffected by Daisy. You are left wondering
whether he understood the puzzle he was studying at all.
