Daisy Miller Christianity

The novel ‘Daisy Miller’ by Henry James, reveals that during the Victorian era, it was frowned upon for young women to display their sexual desire to others due to strict social conventions and social norms. Through the significant contrasts of American and European social conventions and the impact it has on Daisy’s character. The repetition of Daisy’s ‘innocent’ personality and her poor decisions made during the novella. Additionally, the symbol of Daisy’s death demonstrates the restrictions women has placed upon them and the punishments of those who do not follow the norms of the society. Furthermore, James reveals that during the Victorian era, there are many limitations and struggles women must conform with to be accepted by society, and

Daisy expresses her sexuality through her uncontrollable nature that are not of the social norms of Europeans but of American cultures. Therefore, Winterbourne attempts to explain to Daisy that “…when you deal with natives you must go by the custom of the place. Flirting is a purely American custom; it doesn’t exist here […]” Daisy simply ignores him, and carries on (James, 40). Daisy’s character possesses plenty of beauty, that it is neglected by her lack of social culture. She doesn’t realize that through her flirtatious behaviour and constant desire to deny following the social norms of Europeans, she embodies the rejection that follows her throughout Europe. In Europe, flirting is not known, they only know how to be discreet, while back in America, flirting is only a recent reality. Winterbourne attempts to educate Daisy about the impact her behaviour has in Europe, but Daisy continues to rebel against his ideas. By James explaining Daisy as this uncontrollable character, who enjoys freely expressing herself and the rejections, demonstrates how non-tolerating Europeans are towards young

Daisy demonstrates her ability to defy European norms by portraying herself as truly innocent. Her lack of mature decisions regarding her actions and attitudes towards men characterizes Daisy as careless and foolish. Winterbourne questions himself about Daisy’s motives continuously, “…he asked himself whether Daisy's defiance came from the consciousness of innocence, or from her being, essentially, a young person of the reckless class […]” because she always defied the rules of society and lacked responsibility for her actions and was curious as to why (James, 45). It is inevitable that Daisy would act immature. Her lack of parenting does not allow for her to educate herself on to how to compose herself within different societies. It could be said that Daisy’s mother’s ignorance on the matter, hinders Daisy’s actions which leads to Daisy being pushed out from society. Due to the lack of an authority figure in Daisy’s life, she continues to act innocent by being openly honest about what she wants and feels. The Europeans do not take the time to get to know Daisy, so they fail to realize that she is naturally innocent, and just acting on personal desire instead of social conventions. Which eventually leads to envious Europeans because they wouldn’t ever act out of their social norms and so they shun Daisy from the