Student Question
In Daisy Miller, does Winterbourne learn anything from his relationship with Daisy?
Quick answer:
Winterbourne learns a lesson from his relationship with Daisy, but only after her death. Throughout the novella, he tries to make Daisy conform to societal norms, failing to appreciate her innocence and vitality. Daisy's death reveals to him her true innocence and the error of his judgment. Ultimately, Winterbourne realizes that social conventions blinded him to her genuine nature, understanding too late that he could have pursued a deeper relationship with her.
In fact, Winterbourne, who is symbolically born of the winter with a cold responsiveness, does not learn anything from his closeness to Daisy in Henry James' novella Daisy Miller. He proceeds through most of the novel to attempt to persuade her to conform with the standards of society. As an aside, James has a double-handed motive in this. On the one hand, he is illustrating the stifling judgemental strictures of society, which are revealed in their true colors at the novel's resolution when Daisy is declared to be the "most innocent." On the other hand, he is illustrating that such strictures are not without an original value that became buried under thoughtlessness and the habits of time, which is revealed with her death from Roman fever.
To return to Winterbourne, who runs as slowly and as shallowly as a Scottish brook or rivulet in the frozen winter time (i.e.,
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To return to Winterbourne, who runs as slowly and as shallowly as a Scottish brook or rivulet in the frozen winter time (i.e.,bourne is a variation of the Scottish word burn meaning brook or rivulet), it took Daisy's death to teach him anything. It was only at her graveside that he became convinced through Giovanelli's remarks that Daisy was still as fresh in innocence as a spring daisy and that, despite social speculation to the contrary, her behavior, though unwise, was above moral reproach. It isn't until he sees his Aunt the following summer, again at Vevey, that he confesses aloud his regret and his understanding that had he not let social conventions mar the path, he could have claimed Daisy's affections and her heart. Winterbourne learns something but it is from her departure, not from her closeness.
Does Winterborne learn anything from his relationship with Daisy?
Daisy Miller is a young woman who embraces life with full vigor and curiosity. She responds to the world around her through her senses, her feelings. She does not consult convention or tradition to see how she is supposed to behave. She responds with a natural easiness that makes her very different from European girls, and even American girls who follow the rules for Americans in Europe. Daisy becomes the subject of gossip and for Winterborne, a fascination.
Winterborne, an American who has lived in Europe most of his life, has learned how to fit into the more structured, stuffy society in Europe. When he meets Daisy Miller, she is a breath of fresh air. At the same time that he is fascinated with observing her, he is also repulsed by her lack of concern for society's expectations or her reputation.
For Winterborne, meeting Daisy Miller gives him a lesson on what Americans are really like. Considering that he has not been home to America for many years, his perception of Americans is formed by Europeans in America. When he meets Daisy Miller, so free of conventions, and willing to live life according to her own rules, he is fascinated by her freedom.
Daisy Miller represents the difference between the freedom of America and the stuffy tradition of Europe.