DAISY MILLER What to examine SETTINGS The action

DAISY MILLER What to examine….

SETTINGS The action takes place in the 1870 s in Vevey, Switzerland, a small resort town on the northeastern shore of Lake Geneva Château de Chillon, a medieval castle on the eastern shore of Lake Geneva, near Montreux; Rome, Italy. In Rome, the action takes place in hotels and streets; a residence on Via Gregoriana; a public park on a hill called the Pincio; St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican; the Doria Palace on the Via del Corso; the Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill; a villa restaurant on the Caelian Hill; and the Colosseum (originally called the Flavian Amphitheater), near the Roman Forum. Geneva, Switzerland, is the temporary residence of one of the main characters, Frederick Winterbourne, but no action in the novel takes place there.

CHARACTERS Frederick Winterbourne: Twenty-seven-year-old American who received his education in Geneva, Switzerland, the city where he temporarily resides. He becomes fond of fellow American Daisy Miller when he meets her in Vevey, Switzerland. He has difficulty understanding her behavior. Daisy (Annie P. ) Miller: Extremely pretty young American who is on a European tour with her mother and brother. She is outspoken, high-spirited, and independent and ignores (or is unaware of) customs and traditions of European high society. Daisy is the novel's protagonist. Randolph Miller: Daisy's boisterous little brother. Randolph is something of an allegory for boorish American tourists.

CHARACTERS CONTINUE…. Mrs. Miller: Culturally and socially deficient mother of Daisy and Randolph and wife of Ezra B. Miller, a wealthy businessman in Schenectady, New York. She is weakminded and ill at ease at social gatherings. Mrs. Costello: Winterbourne's American aunt, whom he visits in Vevey, Switzerland, and later in Rome. She is a wealthy widow who, unlike Mrs. Miller, is culturally and socially sophisticated. Giovanelli (joh vuh NELL e): Daisy's frequent escort in Rome. Winterbourne and others regard him as a womanizer. Mrs. Miller and Daisy think him a splendid gentleman.

POINT OF VIEW Except for a few first-person intrusions (see, for example, pars. 3 and 4 in Chapter I). Henry James tells the story in third-person point of view from a limited perspective—that of Frederick Winterbourne, a twenty-seven-year old American who has lived in Europe for a considerable time. One may compare Winterbourne to a magnifying glass through which the storyteller sees the action up close, then describes significant events in detail.

STYLE Henry James drives the story with accomplished writing centering on character development rather than plot twists and turns. In portraying his characters, he chooses words carefully, as a gifted painter chooses colors, in order to shade or highlight a passage with just the right connotation, implication, or undertone.

THEMES The collision between the cultures of the Old World and the New World. Nonconformity Prejudice and Snobbery When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

SYMBOLS Daisy Miller Winterbourne April Daisies Mrs. Walker Randolph Miller Polish Boys Eugenio Roman fever Painting of Pope Innocent X Colosseum

CONNECTIONS Doll’s House (play) Sylvia Plath (poem) Marilyn Nelson Waniek (poem) Pride and Prejudice (novel) How to Read Literature… (novel) Literary Criticism Lenses Literary Movements