Daisy Miller Research Paper

In the classic novel Daisy Miller, author Henry James utilizes the motif of old versus new in order to present how awful humanity reacts to cultural differences in relation to their own customs, resulting in locals looking down on tourists, making fun of their behaviors, and proclaiming their disdain towards those who differ from them. Europe is a country full of sophisticated and dignified citizens, but they lose all of their manners once they encounter the Miller family, who is on a vacation from the their home of America. Every opportunity they get, the Europeans find a way to speak poorly about the “hopelessly vulgar” Americans who are “bold enough” to act as if they were in their home country (James 29). The Europeans mistake the Miller’s
When Daisy is on a walk with a potential suitor by the name of Mr. Giovanellli, Mrs. Walker, a European woman, watches on with eager eyes saying what “a pity [it is] to let the girl ruin herself” (James 38). Mrs. Walker strongly believes that Daisy is losing her innocence, and senses that soon her reputation will be in tatters. She tries to stop Daisy from her so-called mistakes, fretting over Daisy until she ignores her advice, resulting in Mrs. Walker making small talk and gossiping about Daisy’s promiscuity and unusual behavior. When Mr. Winterbourne asks for his aunt to meet Daisy Miller, her response is full of outrage at the mere thought of meeting “a dreadful girl” who is nothing but an “uncultivated” American (James 15). Mrs. Costello insults Daisy, despite never having met her before. She judges her based on her nationality, and associates every negative thing Americans do with Daisy, deciding that she must be one of those people. She allows the stereotype of noisy and annoying Americans to dictate her decision of meeting the Daisy Miller, and instead goes off, spouting out words of hate and disdain at her and her