James' manipulation of appearances in Daisy Miller as well as other character's notions of these appearances provides us with a novella of enigmatic and fascinating characters. Daisy, the most complicated of these ambiguities, is as mysterious as she is flirtatious. James gives her a carefully constructed enigmatic quality that leaves the reader wondering what her motivations were and who she truly was. He structures the novella in such a way as to stress the insights that the supporting characters provide into Daisy's character, weather accurate or erroneous. Despite their questionable reliability, they allow James to make commentary on both European and American cultures and social class. In Daisy Miller the protagonist, Daisy, rebels against convention and runs from any stereotype that could be applied to her. She seems determined to defy convention and to never be completely understood. Daisy's flat-out rejection of her time's ideas of feminine modesty and appropriateness paired with her portrayal as naive and innocent, create a character with contradictory, and thus evidently enigmatic, qualities. Daisy "flirts" with men upon every whim, repeating a cycle of infatuation with each just before she moves on to the next. Daisy, often surrounded by "half a dozen wonderful moustaches..." (80) often goes out alone in public with them, even late at night, which is considered in Europe, in her time and social class, to be highly unconventional and dangerous. Despite much shaming by local women, she pursues these men with unfailing determination and abandon. Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Costello both believe that Daisy is merely a flirt and are equally appalled by Daisy's escapades. Mrs. Costello noted that she believed th... ... middle of paper ... ...lace in Europe, the only true European is Giovanelli. Giovanelli's name means "young-man" (123); a "type" (123), and his modest dialogue and flat characteristics defer attention from him back to where James wants it to lie- with Daisy. The author diverts focus to Daisy primarily by constructing the novel around her appearances and the other characters' lives around her mystery. Despite this focus, no one character seems to be able to grasp the true motives and nature of Ms. Daisy Miller. Her innocence is justified by James, despite commentary to the contrary by much of the supporting characters, through subtle symbolism and direct description. Using Daisy's character as a striking symbol of a misunderstood American, James makes an observation about American culture and social class. Works Cited James, Henry. Daisy Miller. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006.
Daisy Blunt is described as a young, beautiful, dark-skinned women who was always nicely dressed. When Daisy walked by the store, the men started to compliment her and said what they would do for her. For example, one of the men, Jim claims he’ll buy Daisy a steamship and hire some men to run it for her.(pg. 69). From Janie’s perspective, Daisy is uncomfortable with all the attention that is suddenly placed upon her. When Daisy shows discomfort, the men would laugh loudly making fun of Daisy. (p...
This coursework focuses on how each character contributes to the suicide of a poor girl Eva Smith/Daisy Renton.
The central concern in Daisy Miller is of the "analogies and differences" between people. In this story, a young American man, Winterbourne, is confused and intrigued by the behavior of a young American woman, Daisy Miller. Winterbourne had wondered about all of the cold shoulders that had been turned towards her, and sometimes it annoyed him to suspect that she did not feel at all. He said to himself that she was too light and childish, too uncultivated and unreasoning. Then at other moments he believed that she carried about in her an elegant and perfectly observant consciousness from the impression she produced. He asked himself whether Daisy's defiance came from the consciousness of innocence or from her being, essentially, a young person of the "common" class. After getting to know Daisy, he was confused about getting to know his and her emotions. It is far evident that Winterbourne does not come to conclusions about people easily. He was very much influenced by the biases of his upbringing in culture, and he questioned them occasionally.
The story “Daisy Miller” is a romance of a love that can never be. The character Annie P. Miller (known as Daisy Miller) is portrayed as a young naive wild yet, innocent girl who want to do nothing more but have fun with the company she please. The story “Daisy Miller” is a lot like The Age of Innocence. In both the movie and the book the leading lady was shunned from society because of their behavior. Both Daisy and the Countess Olenska were misunderstood and out-casted because they were saw as different. These women did not want to conform to what the society thought was proper and good, they had their own opinion and was bold in their time to state it.
Daisy is an attractive, wealthy, and shallow lady with luscious voice, which seems to have a sound of wealth. Daisy is wealthy and comes from a prominent family in Louisville. She marries the very wealthy Tom Buchanan. Daisy is a bored and careless woman. She is incapable of entertaining herself and wonders what she will do with her life for the next thirty years. Although she is the mother of a young daughter, she is incapable of any depth of maternal feelings.
Her only profession is finding ways to keep her husband satisfied. So, that he should procure whatever she currently desires. The constant state of leisure that surrounds her everyday life gets too boring for Daisy. She seeks new, exciting, and passionate beginnings in her life. After all, Daisy Buchannan always gets what she wants. When Jay Gatsby finds himself reacquainted with his lost love, Daisy takes this opportunity to entertain her presently dull lifestyle. Their escapades all suited Daisy, until Gatsby presented Daisy with an ultimatum. She had to tell Tom she never loved him, and then she can run away to live happily with a man who adores her. The idea seemed romantic, until Tom caught on to Daisy’s deception. Of course he would still want her, and he made a few convincing arguments to keep Daisy from leaving him. Daisy left for the Buchannan’s house with Gatsby feeling conflicted and confused about Tom’s promise of a better marriage. In her disgruntled state, Daisy wound up killing Tom’s mistress in a hit-and-run car accident, a true show of irony. She didn’t even stop to see if the person she hit was alright, and she honestly didn’t care. Daisy continued her way home, because her relationship was more important than the death of a human
Daisy's greed can best be seen in her choice of a husband, and in the circumstances
As you read on, Daisy’s true character is slowly revealed, and you come to achieve that she is a very careless person. She seems to never care about the consequences of her actions, and this is proven when she is driving home from the city, and hits Myrtle with Gatsby’s car. Unlike most other people, she didn’t even hesitate and just drove home, without a care in the world about what she had done. One of Nick Caraway’s final assessments of Daisy after the accident is that she is very careless. He even says; “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”. (Fitzgerald 187) This quote is proof that people i...
that her husband was having an affair with another women but Daisy did not do
Daisy's carelessness reveals her corruption as a human being. She uses her wealth and social status to escape whatever she chooses, like the death of Myrtle. Additionally, her actions demonstrate the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain and attention. Daisy’s character, due to her money, inherently values her advantage over the lower class, revealing a nature of entitlement. Additionally, she gives no respect to anyone around her, sometimes n...
Daisy Miller may be uneducated, as Winterbourne and his aunt describe her, but she is witty." One illustration of her humor takes place at Mrs. Walker"s party when Winterbourne is criticizing her for her relations with Giovanelli." He says they don"t "understand that sort of thing here"not in young married women."Daisy cries, "I thought they understood nothing else!" and goes on to say, "It seems to me more proper in young unmarried than in old married ones."Daisy typically speaks and behaves frankly, almost in a child-like fashion, but this shows, as the narrator describes it, a "startling worldly knowledge" (1587)." Daisy is somewhat rustic but smart." She has a "natural elegance" and a mixture of" "innocence and crudity," and yet, as seen in her response, her character proves to go beyond the boundaries of this character type of the natural beauty (1564 and 1574).
Myrtle, Gatsby, and Daisy were all affected by this. Myrtle is a married woman, but is not satisfied with her life as Wilson’s wife. Wilson does not provide to her standards which is to have the luxurious life Myrtle desires. Myrtle’s materialism is well known, and nothing will stop her from having it all. Myrtle has high hopes to gain a wealthy and famous life. She knows all the city’s gossip and will do almost anything to learn what’s new. The aspiration to have a luxurious life is what causes Myrtle to have an affair with Tom. The movie foreshadows the affair when Myrtle calls Tom during dinner with his family. As this affair continued, everyone in the city (including Daisy) knew about it, yet no one said a word Daisy simply described herself as a fool. Though Myrtle got her way, it was ironic how Daisy was the person who accidently killed Myrtle due to their history and her affair with
During the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan about Daisy, she is talked about like she is a possession to be won over. During the argument Nick “glances at Daisy who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband” (Fitzgerald, page 143). Gatsby and Buchanan tell Daisy what to say instead of allowing her to tell her own truths, and if she does start to speak up for herself she is quickly quieted down. Daisy states at the beginning of the novel while talking about finding out the sex of her child that, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald, page 16). Daisy is the only female character in the novel who understands that no matter what a woman accomplishes, she will always be downcasted based on her gender. This outlook is what allows her to be controlled by Gatsby and Buchanan, because she doesn’t believe that anything she can do will make her more of a human to them. Myrtle on the other hand, while still a married woman, isn’t able to see her powerlessness. She feels powerful enough to stand up to Tom and chant Daisy’s name over and over again until he breaks her nose (Fitzgerald, page 37). This scene demonstrates the way that men handled women if they ever did feel confident enough to speak for themselves. One final scene from the novel that really
The story of Daisy Miller starts off in Vevey, Switzerland with Winterbourne and Daisy meeting through Daisy's brother Randolph. Winterbourne is immediately attracted to her stating, "she was strikingly, admirably pretty" (James 470). The story continues with Winterbourne giving Daisy a tour of the Chateau de Chillon, and Winterbourne returning to Geneva, where he had an older women waiting for him. Daisy ends up meeting an Italian man, Giovanelli, which eventually leads to her death of malaria. Although the characters seem simple enough, they symbolize much more than themselves. In Henry James's Daisy Miller, Daisy symbolizes all American women who travel abroad to Europe, while Winterbourne symbolizes the European mentality of American tourists.
One can easily view Daisy as a victim. Fitzgerald distinctly exposes Daisy’s need for stability, which, according to Fitzgerald, or perhaps the mentality of the time period, can only be found in a man. “Her need for stability was immediate, and she attempted to satisfy that need through something tangible, something close at hand” (Fryer 51).... ... middle of paper ...