Daisy: The Story of a Wildflower

“As I have already had occasion to relate, he was angry at finding himself reduced to chopping logic about this young lady; he was vexed at his want of instinctive certitude as to how far her eccentricities were generic, national, and how far they were personal.”

“In Winterbourne, however, she has found a gentleman for whom she has special interest and to whom she desperately wants to convey her true feelings. Unable to communicate her feelings, Daisy resorts to her standard technique of playing childish games in a futile attempt to win affection.”

            Winterbourne wants desperately to be able to put Daisy into a category of women that he is familiar with. She at first seems to be a coquette; a girl who is easily wooed into submission. As time goes on he realizes she is much more complex, making her all the more attractive and hard to forget about. Although she is extremely rude most of the time he is deeply intrigued by her confusing and mysterious ways. Winterbourne uses the term “reduced” because he regards himself to be of the highest caliber of men. In his eyes, he should have little trouble getting a cute, young girl to like him because he is intelligent, handsome, rich, and eloquent. When Daisy retorts with one of her clever remarks, he can't help but be perplexed. It is obvious he is very inexperienced in dealing with a female of her magnitude. It flat out angers him to have to put so much thought and effort into seducing a girl whom he assumed couldn't possibly have a mental capacity to be reckoned with. Daisy's “eccentricities”are obvious to Winterbourne but he can't, for the life of him figure out what is responsible for her acting in such a manner. By using the word “national”, he is again trying to categorize her into an “American girl.” This would of course explain why she acts this way, but he knows there is more to it than that. Because of this he is “vexed.”

            I strongly doubt that Winterbourne has ever been treated so rudely in his entire life. Especially by a woman as attractive as Daisy. She keeps him hanging on with her flirty smiles and innocent eyes. She shows just enough interest in him that he wants to see her as much as possible. He thinks he can “tame the beast” and get her to change her sassy nature. When he discovers just how difficult a task this will be, he is appalled, but it only strengthens his desire for her. Because Winterbourne thinks of himself as being very well educated he is annoyed at his inability to fully understand what Daisy is all about. It is part of his character to be sure of his thoughts and actions, but when he is engaging in conversation with Daisy all of his certainty goes out the window and his brain is scrambling to keep up with her two-faced personality. An important aspect of Daisy's personality that allures Winterbourne is her unwillingness to conform with society. She disregards others opinions of her and is a free spirit. Winterbourne on the other hand conforms to all the social norms of upper class society which makes Daisy's rebelliousness all the more appealing. He thinks he is better than human nature. He thinks that he couldn't be attracted to a woman that treats him so cruelly, but he forgets the fact that he is no better than any other man simply for the fact that he doesn't care enough about inner beauty. She is beautiful and has the grace of a princess which sadly overshadows basically all of her obvious personality flaws. We can see that Winterbourne is quite shallow showing he isn't so innocent after all either. 

"A Wild Daisy: Daisy Miller by Henry James." HubPages. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Wild-Daisy-Daisy-Miller-by-Henry-James>.

"Hans Makart." Bruce and Bobbie's Home Page. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://hoocher.com/Hans_Makart/Hans_Makart.htm>.