Literature Analysis #6: Daisy Miller by Henry James(Notes)

•  Setting: a hotel in the resort town of Vevey, Switzerland 
• Daisy Miller 
• represents innocent, unworldly American 
• talks too much about herself 
• Winterbourne
• American Randolph Miller  
• symbolizes freedom, no containment, opp. of Polish boys 
• resembles snobby American tourist, “the ugly American” 
• American values and social expectations 
• European values and social expectations 
• children should be seen and not heard 
• Mrs. Costello,  Winterbourne’s aunt
•  doesn’t want to meet Daisy (dislikes her, look down upon her)
• snobby, high society 
• Winterbourne takes Daisy to Chillon, un-chaperoned. 
•  When Winterbourne tells Daisy of him going back to Geneva, she makes him promise to go to Rome and visit her. 
•  In Rome, Daisy is ruining her reputation by spending her time with men who aren't only strangers but fortune hunters. Especially with an Italian man who goes by the name Giovanelli. 
•  Mrs. Walker 
• a wealthy, well-connected woman from Geneva
•  Daisy does not listen to Mrs. Walker or Winterbourne and chooses Giovanelli over her reputation. 
•  The book Paule Méré is put in this story to show irony because with a very similar plot, it is almost identical to Daisy Miller. This makes it humorous because snobby woman Mrs. Costello finds Paule Méré very entertaining. 
•  Mrs. Walker’s Party 
• Winterbourne talks to Daisy about how she really feels for Giovanelli (flirting/love?) and Daisy becomes very defensive… 
• Mrs. Walker turns her back on Daisy and Daisy is hurt! 
• Daisy may be engaged to Givanelli. 
•  Early spring, Winterbourne sees Daisy at Palace of the Caesars with Gionanelli. He asks her about her and Giovanelli. 
•  After a party, Winterbourne finds Daisy and Giovanelli at the Coliseum. She tells him that she has been out there all evening. This causes Winterbourne to worry because she could easily catch malaria. But when she is warned, Daisy does not listen. 
•  Daisy dies from malaria and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. 
•  The note Daisy wrote before dying showed she did care what he thought. 
•  Theme: Misunderstandings when it comes to assuming you know someone by what others tell you. Because of this neither Daisy nor Winterbourne were able to be happy.