黛西米勒 Analyze the Main Character of The Daisy Miller

Analyze the Main Character of The Daisy Miller
I start to read the Daisy Miller about 2 weeks ago. At first, I searched some information about the author from the Internet, and then glanced the basic content of novel, when I read the several chapters ahead of the novel; I feel it was so boring; the complex relationship would kill me. When I nearly finished the novel, everything was suddenly enlightened.
The Daisy Miller is written by Henry James , who was born in1843 and died in 1916, Henry James, O.M. (April 15, 1843 – February 28, 1916) was an American writer, regarded as one of the most important writer of 19th-century literary realism. James spent the last 40 years of his life in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, one year before his death. He was affected deeply by European culture. He was good at showing the most realistic social phenomenon to readers by analyzing people’s language and psychology. Many of his works was popular to readers. In the early time, he created The Portrait of a Lady and Daisy Miller for the subject of the international theme. In his early phase of creating, the center characters are almost innocent and kindhearted American young people. They felt dissatisfied with affluent life and went to Europe regardless the long distance. These youngsters were both interested in the places of interest and the custom of Europe. Nevertheless, they were disappointed or assimilated by the social environment which was full of treacherous and sophisticated people. Daisy Mille r and The Portrait of a Lady had fully shown the right theme. It was typical for James’s fiction about the international theme of the tradition-less Americans facing the complexity of European life and it was also typical for realist writers to examine the interplay between innocence and experience.
Daisy Miller is a wealthy, young, American girl from upstate New Y ork, traveling around Europe with her mother and younger brother. Daisy is a curious mixture of traits. She is spirited, independent, and well meaning, but she is also shallow, ignorant, and provincial—almost laughably so. She offers the opinion that Europe is ―perfectly sweet,‖ talks with shameless monotony about the tiresome details of her family’s habits and character, thinks Winterbourne might know an Englishwoman she met on the train because they both live in Europe, and wonders if Winterbourne has heard of a little place called New Y ork. Daisy is also a tiresome flirt. She has no social graces or conversational gifts, such as charm, wit, and a talent for repartee, and she is really interested only in manipulating men and
making herself the center of attention. Throughout Daisy Miller, Winterbourne obsesses over the question of whether Daisy is a ―nice‖ girl, and Daisy’s behavior never reveals whether she is or not. Winterbourne accepts that Daisy is vulgar but wonders whether she is innocent, and we never really find out the truth. Daisy does often seem less than innocent—Winterbourne does, after all, catch her with Mr. Legionella late at night at the Coliseum. However, whether such actions are or are not appropriate is more a matter of social convention than any firm moral expectation. In the end, the truth we find out about Daisy is only what Winterbourne thinks is true. Henry James developed the international novel, which brings together persons of various nationalities who represent certain characteristics of their respective countries. Although James wrote a novel with an international setting, he was concerned about how Americans behaved in an international setting. Europeans were more cultured, more concerned with art, and more aware of the subtleties of social situations. Americans were innocent, and more concerned about moral issues. When he wrote Daisy Miller in 1879, he thought American spirit more important than European elegant. That was mainly because capitalism had led people to seek fortune at all adventures at that time. The social convention was so bad that the author appealed a new kind of spirit. He could only realize this dream in his novel. James used the image of America as the youthful innocent land. James himself lived in Europe and he knew the rigidity of European culture that the rules under which it lived did not allow any change, and vitality. He saw the decadence of the European culture at that time. But later his view became more complicated. The author seemed to value both the sophistication of Europe and the idealism of America. Even he unveiled Europeans’ ways of the world, hypocrisy, conservatism and degeneration, James admired the rich heritage of the European artistic culture, something that America lacked at the same time. James satirized Americans’ lacking of knowledge, closing eyes and immaturity as well. James’s idea was becoming more objective than ever. It changed as time went on. And at last it modified more like Moderation in our country. We live in society and have to contact with others. We could keep our individual character unless we do not hurt others especially the most part of the society. That is a best way to respect others and protect ourselves. This paper would advocate the thought of mediocrity all the time. James thought American innocent philosophy was better than European sophisticated philosophy. It was reasonable at that time. But
innocent attitude was easily related to ignorance, sophisticated attitude to arrogance. Both are not favorable to a person’s development.
From the story I understand that if you could not change the environment, then you should change yourself. It is not always the case. The sentence should be that if you could not change the environment, you should adjust yourself to the environment. Only one could adapt to the society could he keep his personality. Mediocre philosophy is a rational choice. It helps a person adapt to the new circumstance as soon as possible. Society is not a stage of someone. It is colorful and pluralistic. It is a prerequisite that everyone should keep in mind all the time. One should recognize the social versatility and a fact that he or she would never live isolated from others. A person could live a happy and healthy life unless he has fully understood this truth. How a beautiful novel.
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