Daisy Miller

The novel Daisy Miller serves as a psychological description of the mind of a young woman, and an analysis of the traditional views of a society where she is a clear outsider. Henry James, the author of the novel, uses Daisy’s story to discuss what he thinks Europeans and Americans believe about each other. Most European looks on an inferior way upon American travelers in Europe, especially when they do not follow the customs and culture of their country. Through the novel we can note that this is prevalent because Mrs. Costello, the aunt of Winterbourne’s, since the beginning did not like Daisy because she was the kind of girl that was “common”. Therefore we can say that Mr. Costello see the Americans in a negatively way to the point that she refuses to know her.

Also, in my opinion, Daisy Miller was a pretty American flirt who doesn’t care what people thinks about her. She is nice and sweet, but also rebellious and ignorant. She doesn’t care what people think about her because in the novel when Mrs. Walker told her to go to the house because it was improper to her to be walking out with a men, Daisy answers that she doesn’t care what people think about her. Therefore, we can say that she symbolize America because it is about freedom of choice and everyone has different cultures and customs. In addition, she was also an ignorant. Her ignorance was the one that led her to death. If Daisy had listened to others instead of ignoring them and being self-centered, she would have stayed alive. In conclusion we can say that Daisy represent the Americans travelers in Europe and Winterbourne represents the European outlook on American traveler.