Daisy Miller by Henry James
Paige Toft, Erin Szogi
Biography of Henry James
• He was born in America on April 15th, 1843
• He alternated living in both America and Europe
• He is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th
century literary realism
• He briefly attended Harvard Law School
• He wrote most of his works in Europe
• He earned honorary degrees from Harvard and
Oxford Universities, in 1911 and 1912 respectively
• He became a British citizen in 1915 in protest of
America’s refusal to enter WWI
• He suffered a stroke in December of 1915
• His health continued to decline until his death on
February 28th, 1916
Summary of Daisy Miller
• Daisy Miller meets Frederick Winterbourne and
they hit it off. Winterbourne must leave the next
day and Daisy ask him to visit her in Rome next
year. They meet unexpectedly and at that time
Daisy is meeting with a questionable Italian man.
Winterbourne attempts to separate them but she
refuses. One night Winterbourne finds the two in
the Colosseum and asks how questionable-Italianman could take Daisy to a place where she could
get Roman fever—a particularly deadly strain of
malaria. Daisy doesn’t care, Winterbourne leaves,
Daisy falls ill and dies. Womp womp.
Themes in Daisy Miller
• Americans Abroad – many Americans were
traveling to Europe at the time –the clash between
the two cultures was a novel and widespread
phenomenon
• The Sadness and Safety of the Unlived Life –
characters focus their attention on idea they feel
they could figure out or achieve if only they could
devote their spirit or intellectual faculties to it with
sufficient understanding or patience – they realize
too late that whatever it was they sought to
understand or achieve, whatever they waited for,
has passed them by and that they have wasted
their whole life
Main Characters
• Annie “Daisy” Miller – a rich, pretty, stubborn
American girl traveling through Europe with her
mother and younger brother – described by
Winterbourne as “a young flirt” – her name is
symbolic of a flower in full bloom w/o inhibitions
and in the springtime of her life
• Frederick Winterbourne – a young American who
has lived most of his life in Geneva – he is
initially intrigued by Daisy because of her frivolity
and independence, but he eventually loses respect
for her – his name contrasts Daisy’s name; in the
winter, flowers die
Major Conflict
• Daisy’s refusal to conform to the strict
European laws of propriety that govern
behavior, particularly relations between
young unmarried people of the opposite sex,
raises eyebrows among Rome’s high society
Time Period & Impact
• After the Civil War, Americans went on “the
grand tour” of Europe to show their wealth
and class
• Written in 1878 and was an immediate
success
• Critics said it was an outrage on American
girlhood
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Other Works by Henry James
A Tragedy of Error
Watch and Ward
The Portrait of a Lady
The Bostonians
What Maisie Knew
The Wings of a Dove
The Ambassadors
The Turn of the Screw*
The Art of Fiction
The American
The Tragic Muse
The American Scene
Washington Square
The Middle Years
A Small Boy and Others
The Princess Casamassima
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The Awkward Age
Confidence
The Europeans
The Golden Bowl
The Ivory Tower
The Other House
The Outcry
Hawthorne
Italian Hours
A Little Tour in France
The Reverberator
Roderick Hudson
The Sacred Fount
The Sense of the Past
The Spoils of Poynton
Picture and Text