Daisy Miller by Henry James (December 2-3, 2003)
Daisy Miller rebels from the cultural rules of society. Her own pleasure and amusement are her priority rather than pleasing others. She tells the truth and rather than acting in calculating to move up a social ladder. She is a young American girl traveling in Europe . She meets Frederick Winterbourne in Vevey.
Winterbourne is instantly intrigued by Daisy and her fresh nature. 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. 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 making talk for her familiarity with the Italian men. In particular, there is talk of 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 because the third person narration shows his point of view. 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.
