Daisy Miller: A Study

Jacqueline Procter
Journal 18
March 7, 2008
Henry James

Quote:
“The shore of the lake presents an unbroken array of establishments…from the ‘grand hotel’…to the little Swiss pension…and an awkward summer-house in the angle of the garden.”

“Daisy’s grave was in the little Protestant cemetery, in an angle of the wall of imperial Rome, beneath the cypresses and the thick spring-flowers.”

Summary:
The first quote is a description of Vevey, Switzerland. The current grand hotels and quaint little boarding houses of the past are contrasted against the awkward summerhouse. The second quote describes the resting place of Daisy Miller.

Response:
When I read the first quote at the beginning of the story I had to re-read it several times as “in the angle of the garden” struck me as significant but I didn’t know why. The second quote mentions her grave placed “in an angle of the wall” so I don’t think it is a coincidence. I think he is comparing her and her final resting place to the awkward summerhouse.
Most Americans visit Europe in the summer, and like the “awkward summer house,” which appears out of place in Vevey, Americans, specifically Daisy, appear awkward in Europe. They are perceived as obnoxious and common by European standards, even when obviously wealthy, because they don’t conform to high society’s rules, and lack social grace, which easily identifies them as American.
I also find the “grand hotel’ which is described as “the newest fashion” similar to the American of “the newest fashion” – those made wealthy by Industrialization after the civil war. Europeans don’t like Americans but they have nothing against their money. The “grand hotels” were built in no small part to the deluge of new Americans vacationing in Europe.
Finally, the Protestant graveyard in Rome is also awkward, because Rome is the seat of the Catholic church, and would not have existed prior to the protestant reformation over 300 years before; therefore, not too many protestants were buried in Rome, unless there was more than one protestant grave yard, as the current graveyard is small.