Daisy Miller Essay

Born Daisy Fay in Louisville, Kentucky, Daisy was always the princess in the tower, the golden girl that every man dreamed of possessing. ?She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster, and all the day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night,? (79). Daisy is beautiful, rich, and appears very innocent as a young woman, although it is later

Gender and sexuality – Gender plays a large role in the story of Daisy Miller. In the beginning and at the end, Winterbourne is known to be “studying” in Geneva. What this really means is that he is spending time with older, foreign coquettes. On the other hand, Daisy Miller is heavily looked down upon especially when she is in Rome. When Winterbourne arrives in Rome, his aunt tells him “When she comes to a party she brings with her a gentleman with a good deal of manner and a wonderful mustache.” Also, people continue to question her actions throughout the novella. For example, when Daisy Miller explains that she is going to the Pincio, Mrs. Walker replies with, “Alone, my dear—at this hour?” The carriage scene is another example of this happening. Both Mrs. Walker and Winterbourne tell her that she should go home because they are worried about her reputation being ruined by her walking the streets of Rome. In conclusion, Winterbourne is never confronted about what he does with older foreign ladies whether it is in the beginning or in the end of the novella. However, Daisy Miller’s actions are criticized. Both gender and the attraction between Winterbourne and Daisy Miller play a large theme. Winterbourne’s ultimate desire is to have Daisy Miller to himself to ultimately marry

Molly Pitcher was known as the reason the American Revolution’s Battle Of Monmouth was won. The American Revolution was a war between Great Britain and the colonies in a fight for freedom. The colonies refused to pay taxes to the king, so the king sent an army to make them. They boycotted, beginning the Revolutionary War. Molly, or Mary Ludwig Hays, her birth name, has been remembered as a hero, and a symbol of the American Revolution. Molly Pitcher was a hero, because of her courage to take over the battle after every fighter couldn't anymore. Her heroic acts would go down in history, and she wouldn’t be forgotten.

Mamie Phipps Clark started her college career in 1934. She began going to college at Howard University as a math major which she graduated magna cum laude in 1938 but when she went back she changed her major to psychology after her husband Kenneth Clark persuaded her to do so. He told her that there would not be that many job opportunities for her and thought it would be better if she got a degree in psychology.

In Henry James’s “Daisy Miller” and Edith Wharton’s “The Other Two,” the narrators each disclose the complications of their party’s social formalities during circumstances within their own society. In both short stories, Winterbourne and Waythorn try to figure out their adored ones character and motives but for different reasons. In “Daisy Miller,” it’s noticeable that Mr. Winterbourne ends up longing for Daisy Miller as he tries to fully categorize the character she’s carelessly ruining. While in “The Other Two,” the narrator examines a society of how a married couple, Waythorn and Alice, adjust to an awkward

Catherine Barkley is a young nurse working at a hospital on the front lines of the war. Nursing is a profession that takes skill and compassion. She was a brave woman because it takes true strength to see and take care of the brutal injuries that soldiers suffer with as casualties of war. Catherine was previously engaged to another soldier who was killed in action. Which means that she was mature enough to know what love is and that she was ready for marriage. She meets Frederic in Gorizia, Italy at the hospital she works in. Daisy Buchanan is what they call a socialite. She is wealthy, active in the community she lives in, and a debutante. Daisy is married to Tom and they have a daughter together. When we meet Daisy in the story she is not happy and she seems to be complacent with the difficulties she has in her marriage. Her dear friend Nick even notices the problems and says, “It

Tom’s infidelity in his marriage clearly expresses his views about his wife, Daisy. In seeking an affair, he conveys that Daisy is deficient and not worthy of devotion. Daisy knows of his affairs, but because of the time period and their social class, she is helpless to do anything. As a woman in the 20th century, it would destroy Daisy to divorce Tom, even though the entirety of New York knows about Tom’s affair.

Her actions are viewed as foolish, creating the stigma around women, and though Daisy does not see herself as a fool, surprisingly she expresses that “the best thing a girl can be in this world [is] a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald, pg 17).” Yet, Daisy is not a fool; she is merely a victim of her environment which is influenced by gender, money, and status. This leads to Daisy having no power or control over her own life and feeling as though women can only be “beautiful fools” as stated earlier.

Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury, all things a rich Southern Belle grows up with.  After her marriage to Tom, she is whisked away to the east, the symbol of 'old money' and corruption of America.  Here she becomes more comfortable in she and her husband's abundant assets and allows the corruption of the east to take her over- she becomes reckless and even more materialistic.  She treats her own daughter as nothing more than an object to show off and treats Gatsby, the man who dedicated his life to seeking her out, as if he had never existed.  The combination of the Southern Belle stereotype along with that of the corrupt Rich Easterner creates the perfect portrait of Daisy Buchanan.

Daisy illustrates the typical women of high social standing; her life is moulded by society’s expectations. She is dependent and subservient to her husband. She is powerless in her marriage.

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

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.

The behavior of the main character, Daisy Miller, leaves no one indifferent. She is likened to a woman of easy virtue, flirting and mating with men of dubious reputation. Moreover, this makes Winterbourne question her innocence, “Were they all like that, the pretty girls who had a good deal of gentlemen's society (1173)?” because of her flirtatious ways. Daisy Miller learns that in Europe people are not allowed to behave as they please, and for the

Daisy is a vain lady. She marries Tom for money and status, and turns her back on true love and happiness, which is represented by Gatsby. Her American Dream is to enjoy a luxurious and comfortable life given to her by, hopefully a man who truly loves her, and whom she also loves. The corruption of her human values begins when she decides not to wait anymore for Gatsby, her real love, but to take the opportunity that Tom Buchanan offers, which are money and status. Her choices reveal her vain and superficial nature hidden beneath her beautiful and innocent look. When Gatsby returns with wealth and status in order

Daisy Miller is breaking these social norms by constantly associating with different men, drawing the attention of many others and Connie expresses her sexuality by abandoning her friends to spend time with a boy in his car; this ultimately leads to society’s metaphorical murder of these women.