Daisy Miller: A Study

Jacqueline Procter
Journal 19
March 7, 2008
Henry James

Quote:
“Why the devil…did you take her to that fatal place?”
“The subtle Roman again dropped his eyes. ‘If she had lived, I should have got nothing. She would never have married me, I am sure.”

Summary:
Winterbourne doesn’t understand why Giovanelli, a native of Rome, who understands the danger of skulking about at night, would take Daisy out with the threat of contracting a fatal disease – malaria. Giovanelli implies that Daisy would not have married him if she had lived anyway.

Response:
I’m not too clear about Giovanelli’s motives for taking Daisy to the coliseum. He almost seems selfish – if he couldn’t have her then nobody would. He claims he wasn’t concerned for himself but he wasn’t too concerned for Daisy or else he would not have indulged her in her request to gallivant all over the city in the evening. Maybe he couldn’t say no to such a beautiful girl and to pacify her he was willing to put himself as risk. This last excuse certainly highlights Daisy's tendencies as the spoiled American girl who lived her life on her own terms.

I do believe that Winterbourne cared for Daisy and had it not been for his aunt he would have pursued her more vigorously. He may have loved her as he was definitely enchanted by her and clearly mourns at her graveside.

Throughout the story the reader is lead to believe that Daisy is not a girl of scrupulous morals and her mother appears ignorant, as she lets her roam around the city with strange men – Giovanelli and others. I think that Daisy and her brother have a lot of freedom because the mother is often ill and in bed. Her brother’s teeth are falling out due to his addiction to candy, which is also the reason he can’t get to sleep before midnight – he’s jacked up on sugar. I guess Daisy is the eye candy for the men in the story, because in the end the reader discovers, along with Winterbourne, that Daisy was innocent, and her naivete was her down fall, which led to her death.