“The Most Innocent!” Symbolism in the Final Scene of Daisy Miller
Henry James’s “Daisy Miller: A Study” is the story of a free-spirited American girl who finds herself under the harsh scrutiny of the society of American expatriates living in Europe – key among them is one Mr. Winterbourne. Though an American by birth, Winterbourne has lived outside the country long enough to be no longer familiar with its customs. However, he is also set apart from European society (esp. when compared with Mr. Giovanelli), making him a sort of liminal figure. Upon meeting the titular Daisy, he is almost immediately “amused, perplexed, and decidedly charmed” (James, 427), but finds his opinion of her fluctuating endlessly. When Daisy tells him jokingly that …show more content…
The placement of her grave is also significant to Daisy herself. The grave was “in an angle of the wall of imperial Rome” (459). The angle seems to indicate her out of place nature in the straight-laced, “perpendicular” society of American expatriates in Europe. Instead of making her altogether an outcast, however, the author chooses to paint a pleasant scene by placing her grave “beneath cypresses and the thick spring-flowers” (459). The cypress has been used as a symbol of death and mourning since ancient Rome, when the trees were planted atop the mausoleum of the beloved emperor, Augustus. Their inclusion, it would seem, indicates that not only is Daisy worth mourning, but that she is also accepted by a European tradition far older than the society who thought her unworthy. This is not unlike how the actual European had no problem walking with her at midnight to see the Colosseum by moonlight, while the former Americans who were trying so hard to be European were aghast. Winterbourne hides his concern for propriety quite well under his “concern” for
Henry James’s “Daisy Miller: A Study” is the story of a free-spirited American girl who finds herself under the harsh scrutiny of the society of American expatriates living in Europe – key among them is one Mr. Winterbourne. Though an American by birth, Winterbourne has lived outside the country long enough to be no longer familiar with its customs. However, he is also set apart from European society (esp. when compared with Mr. Giovanelli), making him a sort of liminal figure. Upon meeting the titular Daisy, he is almost immediately “amused, perplexed, and decidedly charmed” (James, 427), but finds his opinion of her fluctuating endlessly. When Daisy tells him jokingly that …show more content…
The placement of her grave is also significant to Daisy herself. The grave was “in an angle of the wall of imperial Rome” (459). The angle seems to indicate her out of place nature in the straight-laced, “perpendicular” society of American expatriates in Europe. Instead of making her altogether an outcast, however, the author chooses to paint a pleasant scene by placing her grave “beneath cypresses and the thick spring-flowers” (459). The cypress has been used as a symbol of death and mourning since ancient Rome, when the trees were planted atop the mausoleum of the beloved emperor, Augustus. Their inclusion, it would seem, indicates that not only is Daisy worth mourning, but that she is also accepted by a European tradition far older than the society who thought her unworthy. This is not unlike how the actual European had no problem walking with her at midnight to see the Colosseum by moonlight, while the former Americans who were trying so hard to be European were aghast. Winterbourne hides his concern for propriety quite well under his “concern” for