Analyzing Daisy Miller and American Culture Term Paper

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Daisy Miller and American Culture

What is a literary work? This is an articulation of what the author thinks, it is where he or she pours his emotions, expressions, and imagination. Since every person is usually a member of a certain society, there is often a close relationship between what an author thinks and what he conveys in his literary work. Authors often get inspired to create work based on the socioeconomic conditions surrounding them or the reality they face. This is why it has been frequently argued that most literary works are an image of what is happening in the society. This is the same argument put forth by authors Austin Warren and Rene Wellek in their work Theory of Literature in which they state that literature is a social creation that utilizes devices such as metaphors and symbolism to communicate social issues. Moreover, the two argue that, literature is a reflection of life and that life itself is often considered a measure of social realities. (94)

As researchers from different fields investigate and evaluate different phenomenon to understand the modern day world, cultural and literary studies have constantly been defining and interacting with new social, theoretical and political paradigms. Since cultural and literary studies/research are relatively new compared to the other fields, they only have a few universally accepted theoretical premises or sets of canonical texts and classic methodologies. This is similar to what Giroud argues in his work; he states that tutors ought to create space for mutual exchange of information with their students so that there is no silencing of dissenting opinions by a single prevailing narrative (201).

Henry James was one of the leading American novelists of the nineteenth century. He was born in year 1843 in New York City. Henry James' father was a wealthy liberal who wanted his son to experience different cultures of the world. He took his son abroad to Switzerland, England, Germany and France in a bid to give him a taste of the old world. While in Europe, Henry studied French and became interested with the artistic environment and nature of centuries-old European cities. After extensive travels in Europe, James came back to the United States and enrolled for a law degree at the Harvard University. Upon completing his college studies, Henry James spent most of his time travelling around the world and authoring some of the best literary works that have ever been published in the world. Daisy Miller, is one such work. This is a romantic novel Henry James wrote in 1978. Indeed, as some critics argue, this is the best among his many amazing works (Coyle, 27).

Brief review of Daisy Miller

This romantic novel has two main characters, Fredrick Winterbourne and Daisy Miller. The story is set in two European countries, Italy and Switzerland. The two main characters meet and become familiar with each other in Switzerland. Daisy Miller is an American lady from New York. Her family is wealthy and influential. Daisy and Fredrick meet when Daisy and her brother, Randolph, accompany their mother on a European trip. One of the locations that they had planned to visit on their European trips is Switzerland. This is where the two main characters meet. Upon meeting, the two become so comfortable with each other that they break some of the most respected Swiss traditions / norms of the time, such as when Daisy makes an un-chaperoned trip to an Old Swiss Castle with Fredrick. After some time, Daisy's mother and brother have to travel to Italy and Daisy promises Fredrick to meet again in Italy.

However, while in Rome, Italy, Daisy befriends several Italian men and starts to spend a lot of time with them. She brings her Italian friends to parties held by Americans in Rome. This earns her a bad name and her American acquaintances such as Mrs. Walker start keeping away from her. This goes on to a point where she is banned from attending the American parties because the Americans don't feel that she is still one of them. Isolated, she looks for ways to keep herself busy and occupied. Some of her other friends warn her not to walk around at night since she might catch some sort of fever, but she ignores their warnings and continues with her bad habit. She eventually does catch a fever and dies a few days later.

Daisy Miller Context

To understand the social context in which this novel was written, it is important to look at the time when it was published (against the background of the second Industrial revolution).

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By the year this novel was published, the first Industrial revolution had ended about 18 years earlier and the second Industrial revolution had just begun. Life for Americans who were just starting to move into cities en masse, didn't easily transmute into art. Many people moved to settlements and cities near factories and did not have time to write or convey their emotions or imaginations in books (Cole & Scribner, 37). Since the end of the American Civil War, the prevailing movement had continually been realism; a realism that looked at how Americans took to settling in the new communities near industries and also that looked at the issues people were facing in the Midwest or the Mississippi valley. However, insightful and differentiated novels such as Daisy Miller were also published during that period. These novels represented a different and concurrent movement or school of thought as we will see later.

The post-civil war period, particularly at the start of the second industrial revolution is considered by many historians as a new beginning for America. This is the era where many scientists and inventors made many new discoveries and ideas which propelled America to the superpower it is today. This new era signified the end of their chaotic and tumultuous post-win war period. Many have documented how the new industrial era gave people new hope, for instance, authors Glen Moon and Don Cline state in their work Story of our Land and People that the new Industries brought about huge changes in the lives of Americans in the post-1865 period. Men such as Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison discovered / invented new ways of doing things that made work even easier (471). These innovations and technological developments heralded a new era growth that remains unmatched to date. The growth brought about urbanization and migration of people from rural areas to cities.

As cities grew, the societal conditions changed. The increased city populations meant that problems such as insecurity, inadequate housing and poor sanitation / health conditions which were never experienced before became a core part of the society. Researcher, Jacob Thudiphara also presents the same argument in his work Urban Community Development when he states that rapid urbanizations can lead to growth of informal settlements in which residents lack physical and social amenities such as sanitation, water, education and so on (11). Rapid urbanization can also lead to increased poverty levels. Life becomes too expensive for people who previously lived in the rural areas. This means that they have to work extra hard, just to make ends meet. This kind of work will almost always result in the majority of the city residents leading fast-paced lives, with no rest and no time to spend on other leisurely pursuits such as the creation of literary works.

American Culture as Represented by Henry James in Daisy Miller

Henry James depicts the main character of his novel as a beautiful, young, and rich lady who had to survive in the adverse conditions prevailing (personal) in Europe. Despite the allure of foreign influences, James presents Daisy as this charming young lady who was able to maintain her purity as an American. Daisy was able to remain strongly American because of her background as a strong and hardworking woman despite the wealth of her family. Of the many challenges she faced in Europe, the greatest one was her isolation from the migrant American society in Rome. The American scene in Rome was made up of Americans who had moved to Europe and maintained their ways despite the European influences. Despite Daisy maintaining her American purity she had gotten friendly with many Italian men. This is shown in the novel, where Mrs. Costello remarks that Daisy has an intimacy with her mother's courier (James, 34). It is her relationships with Italian men that result in her rejection from Mrs. Walkers party. Things get progressively worse for her as other Americans also start isolating her and after some time she is ostracized from American events / parties.

In the novel, Henry James attempts to represent the social conditions of the time through Daisy Miller. Henry James uses European countries to show how different the American culture of the time is, from other societies. In this context, Daisy Miller may be thought of as a reflection of the American society (Berland, 12-3). There are four main aspects that author of this novel….....

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