Daisy Miller

I was surprised to find that Daisy Miller: A Study had a moral to it. I was expecting from the first few pages to be a complete fluff story. Mr. Winterbourne needs some socialization; he seemed to have spent way too much time in the company of older people and doesn’t know how to handle people his own age. I think that if he had known how to handle Miss Miller this story would not have unfolded in this manner.

                Having contact with people from other countries for many years I have heard often how wild and outspoken young Americans are compared to the cultures my friends have come from and even though this is set a hundred and some years earlier the same stands true here as well. Miss Miller though part of the upper crust in society she is outspoken almost to the point of being brazen. She dares not to listen to the rules of polite society and faces the consequences. She doesn’t find it an issue to be seen un-chaperoned with an unwed man.   This is common now but in the 1800’s this was a fast way to ruin a young lady’s reputation. 

                The moral seems to be that following the rules of society is imperative to life. Miss Miller pushes her luck when she starts to spend way too much time with Mr. Giovanelli. He monopolizes her time and since he is not part of the main stream society that she is this is looked down upon. He also doesn’t follow the rule of the society of the time, allowing her to get him to take her out after dark. When they are found at the Coliseum at midnight is where fate steps in and she become sick with Roman fever. This ultimately kills her but not before she admits that if Mr. Winterbourne had know how to handle her she would have loved him.