Alfred Uhry 's Warm, Pulitzer Prize Winning Theatrical Production ' Driving Miss Daisy '

A headstrong young woman, she defies her parents by dating a Communist, cares about social issues, and is personally interested in improving the lives of black Americans. Wright gives little information about whether or not her political convictions are solidly grounded or just enjoys following the excitement of her radical boyfriend. However, Wright's portrayal of communism in relation to a young white female allows for a slight spread of Communist propaganda. She is likeable and her desire to help blacks like Bigger is certainly sincere. Nevertheless, she is unaware of Bigger's feelings, and, despite her good intentions, she acts in a racist manner, which speaks of white women as a whole and their blindness to understand exactly what it means to struggle as a black American. Though Mary's intentions are essentially good, she gives no thought to the fact that Bigger might be surprised and confused by such unprecedented treatment from the wealthy white daughter of his employer. She treats Bigger not as an individual whose friendship must be earned, but as a representative of the black race. Mary simply assumes that Bigger will embrace her friendship, as she seems to think her political views guarantee her right to his companionship.

So much through chapter 1 we are getting the idea of Daisy being well, stupid. But when alone with nick she explains to him she is sophisticated but cynical, proving to us to think she is much smarter than Tom. She does also show criticism on women’s status when talking about her baby hoping it’s a girl “I hope she’ll be a fool – that’ the best thing

Daisy at this point loves running out in front of buses and her mother doesn't care, she just blows it off like it's nothing. Helen says, “Yes, she's always been drawn to buses. She's always running right out in front of them. Usually the driver stops in time.” When she says usually she is implying that daisy does a lot and hopes the bus driver will stop. No mother could ever let that happen not a mentally sane one. That's the dark humor of it all parents don’t let their kids run out in front of buses and hopes that they will stop.

The pleasant lady comments on how good the weather has been lately and Mrs. Turpin replies that is good enough weather for white folks to pick cotton if African Americans decided not to pick cotton for the white folks. Mrs. Turpin begins to say that now neither white folks nor black folks want to pick cotton and she says it’s because black folks feel like they should be equal with white folks. Readers can only conclude that Mrs. Turpin is a bigot from her statements within this section of the book because she implies that black folks have their place and white folks have another place in the world. It is almost like Mrs. Turpin regards herself as higher up in society because she is white and believes that black folks should be her subordinates.

Most people are born with good hearts, but as they grow up they learn prejudices. “Crash” is a movie that brings out bigotry and racial stereotypes. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a mischief younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his wife, a racist cop and his younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife, a Persian immigrant father, a Hispanic locksmith and his young

She criticizes the way the blacks walk, talk, and live; and she states, "Who wants to be mixed up wid uh rusty black man, and uh black woman goin' down de street in all dem loud colors, and whoopin' and hollerin' and laughin' over nothin'?" (Hurston 135). Hypocritical of her own culture, she works in her successful eating establishment while she pronounces that "[c]olored folks don't know nothin' about no business," a truth which she believes further connects her life to the white community (Hurston 136). Mrs. Turner grasps at minute differences in shading as differences in intelligence because she is substantially more cruel to "those more negroid than herself in direct ratio to their negroness" and because she expects "[a]nyone who look[s] more white folkish than herself [to be] better than she [is]" (Hurston 138). Her prejudice against her own people is alarming; she sees her insults of a lower culture as rungs in the ladder of social prestige, bringing her ever closer to Caucasian characteristics. As she associates her lighter skin with the complexions of white people, Mrs. Turner argues, "Ah got white folks' features in mah face," a visage lacking the "flat nose and liver lips" she stereotypically associates with black facial features (Hurston 136). She constantly judges and condemns while she worships a paradise of "straight-haired, thin-lipped, high-nose boned white seraphs" (Hurston 139). Examining the dark-skinned humans around

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.

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.

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.

Critics of this writing think that James created a character that makes the reader think about whether she is really innocent or not. Carol Ohmann shows that James displays Daisy this way on purpose so that we as the readers can argue whether Daisy is really innocent and just naïve. In “Daisy Miller: A Study of Changing Intentions,” Ohmann writes,

When the students were reading the script, they Heard people referring to African American people as “them”, rather than using their name. Early in the morning Miss Daisy called her son Bootie and rushed him to get to her house. When he got there she told him hoke stole from her. Miss Daisy said, ¨Like children. If they want something, they just take it¨!

Daisy had an accident, she was immediately viewed as too old to drive by her son. That accident was a life changing event for Mrs. Daisy. She seemed to be a determined, strong, stern, and independent woman. When Boolie informed his mother that she can no longer drive and that she would be chauffeured places, she declined and insisted that she would find a way to get to her destinations. It seemed that she did not want any outside help from others that affected her directly. She simply did not want to change the way she did things or her routines, which to her means losing quite a bit of her independence. This is when another life changing event happened to Mrs. Daisy. Boolie hired an African American gentleman by the name of Hoke to chauffeur his mother around. She immediately gave him the cold shoulder and informed him that she did not need his services. She even accused Hoke of stealing a can of salmon from her pantry. Indeed, he did take the can of salmon and openly admitted that the accusations were true, also with a can of salmon in hand to replace the one he had eaten. I believe this was another turning point for Mrs. Daisy. Even though she turned her nose up at Hoke, he was persistent, humble and honest, something she just could not shake easily. His patience instilled trust within Mrs. Daisy opposed to her son who just was too busy to spend quality time with his

Daisy on the other hand plays dumb. She uses vulnerability and innocence as a mask. She acknowledges what she's doing and is focused on keeping her reputation clean. She is bubbly and giggly and is married to Tom. Tom and her were once in love for a short while until Daisy had her child and it was first revealed that Tom was cheating. Daisy was playing the fool, she also knew that Tom “had some women in New York”(20). She was not fighting back in order to preserve her marriage for her daughter as well as her reputation. Daisy is onto something though, she knows that “a fool- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(17). She knows that by her playing the fool she can get out of and get away

The grandmother’s bigotry is also on display as the family rides past a black youth standing near his modest home. Her reaction to seeing him is like walking past an adorable dog; “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” (12). When her granddaughter June Starr comments on the boy’s lack of clothing, the grandmother explains that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (12). As the grandmother emits racism through her comments, she is also inserting such notion into her grandchildren’s minds. Nor Bailey or his wife says anything, so it can be suggested that they are used to such comments and may hold the same views as well. The grandmother does not see a reason to be empathetic; the boy waves and she does return the gesture. Instead she romanticizes the boy’s plight as a missed opportunity, suggesting that “If [she] could paint, [she’d] paint that picture” (12).