Thursday, February 18, 2010

Daisy Miller

Even though this is a late blog post I decided that I still should write a blog about Daisy Miller. I found the conversation that we talked about in class very interesting about comparing our college society with the society that Daisy Miller lived in. I find it interesting that in modern days in Pullman walking home at 10:30 a.m. in a party dress is comparable to Daisy walking with both Winterbourne and Giovanni at night. Then I thought how we moved on to justifying the walking home in a party dress and the walking with Winterbourne at night is interesting too. Basically, it’s ok to walk home at 10:30 am if you’re in a relationship and it’s ok to walk with Winterbourne if you’re engaged to him. For someone who isn’t in a relationship, this doesn’t really make sense to me; it’s not really fair that people are punished for choosing not to exclusively date one person but I guess that is what today’s society and Daisy’s society looks down upon. I feel bad for Daisy though because she really was being pure and innocent the entire time though others thought she was not. She was just a pretty little flirt but she still had a tragic end. I wonder why Henry James decided to end the book that the way he did, it’s a very interesting ending to choose. I guess James just wanted to show off the character of Winterbourne a little more…he wanted to show how easy it was for Winterbourne to move on and get over Daisy. It’s a sad ending but it really is life and life happens like that…it’s not a perfect ending tied up in a bow.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you wrote this post even if it's too late to count, Sarah, because these are the kinds of observations you can later bring into your writing on the subject. "Pretty little flirt"--yes, Winterbourne's words don't even hint at the death to come.

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