The Quintessential American Woman Essay

Daisy is not a fool herself but is the product of a social environment that, to a great extent, does not value intelligence in women. She describes her own boredom with life and seems to imply that a girl can have more fun if she is beautiful and simplistic. Daisy herself often tries to act such a part. She conforms to the social standard of American femininity in the 1920s.

In Henry James's “Daisy Miller,” the main character Frederick Winterbourne masks Daisy Miller’s personality with his own imagination. Told from a limited narration point of view, this novel solely emphasizes Mr. Winterbourne’s perception of the world around him, focusing most on Ms. Daisy’s character. Mr. Winterbourne aims to unravel Ms. Miller’s character make-up throughout chapter one, using only his and his aunt’s preconceived notions of women in American society. By being too introspective and imaginative, Mr. Winterbourne is unable to see Ms. Miller as anything more but a conquest, and therefore he is unable to empathize with her as another human being.

Daisy Miller examines European high society throughout the 1870s. The societal norms are placed firmly in the beliefs of the class system, social status, and education: all of which are needed in order to successfully assimilate into the world of the upper class. Henry James makes it clear that these norms make up the lives of the high society through his characterization of the “uncultivated” Daisy Miller. Daisy’s character is questionable throughout the novella, and the word “uncultivated” has been necessary to coming to that conclusion.

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.

A theme is the topic of which the piece of writing is based on. The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has many themes, just depends on the focus of attention. I feel that the symbolism of color is an important theme in this novel. Fitzgerald describes with much detail the color of important things found in this novel. The colors represent the character’s personas that covers the dirt underneath..

American history is primarily concerned with the evaluation of imperative events affiliated with the primordial American society (Kellogg & William 439). It sheds light of the past on the present hence, establishing a significant correlation between the precedent, present, and future. Slavery, the revolutionary war, the colonial period, and the U.S independence are some of the predominant events that characterize the American history.

Daisy Buchanan, grew up in Louisville, Kentucky with a prim and proper family of higher class. Her character is described as a pure and delicate woman, who always seems to wear the color white. Throughout the story she begins to notice that the love Tom had for her faded when he begins to see his mistress, Myrtle. Devastated by Tom’s betrayal, she runs to Gatsby, knowing that he’ll give her the love that she so desperately wants. As Daisy represents someone of pure nature, Myrtle shows to be quite the opposite.

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.

Taking Daisy with appreciation and without alarm, we also re-read her character and re-evaluate her moral status. We (the readers) seem to meet James’ sophistication with out own, by agreeing on a mixed interpretation of Daisy: she is literally innocent, but she is also ignorant and incautious. (1)

The creation of the character Daisy in the novel portrays her as a shallow petty woman. Daisy is described as being round because of her dynamic personality. She is often witty and comes back at people with biting remarks. F. Scott Fitzgerald had an intention for the audience to not feel sympathy for daisy. Daisy is first introduced to the

Daisy Buchanan is not so sweet and innocent as she is portrayed in Luhrmann’s film. Daisy is not innocent- her voice is full of money, she cries over shirts (not lost time), she sulks, she fake, she kills Myrtle, and she’s frivolous and careless with other’s feelings. In Luhrmann’s film, she is a dear, sweet girl who is lost in her own beautiful world of white dresses, mansions, and love, and in the end we are left feeling sympathetic for the character because she almost seemed upset about her decision. Daisy Buchanan is not that same girl in the novel. She is an heiress who sits upon chairs in her white dresses. She toys with the emotions of Gatsby. She chooses money over love and chooses Tom while Gatsby is away at war. And she doesn’t even take care of her own child. Despite the many differences between Daisy in the novel and Daisy in the movie, it is understandable as to why these decisions were made. People want to like the damsel in distress, the damsel being Daisy trapped with her abusive, unloyal husband, Tom. Had

Daisy Miller’s corruption originates from two men in her life; Her major love interest, Mr. Giovanelli, an Italian man with an unknown background, is the indirect cause of her corruption and the direct cause of her ultimate downfall. Miller and Giovanelli’s intimate friendship, with no customary declaration of courtship, alarms many of her American expatriates. As the pair’s friendship escalates into something more, gossip and judgement further ostracizes Daisy from the American community.

Daisy Miller: A Study is a short story that focuses on the various dramatic encounters between the American woman Daisy Miller and Fredrick Winterbourne, an American born but European raised gentleman. The narrative drives us to enter Winterbourne’s view of the vivacious Daisy and how at first he is seeking to understand her flirtatious behavior then try to control her to better assist her in fitting in high society. Daisy being a young socialite herself is not keen on people telling her how to live life and prefers to be in the company of gentlemen to satisfy her loneliness. This behavior is viewed by her social peers like Winterbourne as taboos for women and remarked upon several times. However, no one quite notices the