DAISY MILLER HONORS ENGLISH Please read through these ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3. James uses language carefully in this novella as in all his works; certain words (“pretty”) and images (flowers, for example) are repeated with variations throughout. Choose a few of the most important examples that you have seen in this work and present them to the class. 4. In what way might it be said that this is Winterbourne’s story rather than Daisy’s? What do we learn about him in the course of the story? Is he responsible for her death? Look closely at the ways in which he assesses her and interprets—or misinterprets—her language and behavior. 5. James uses places and place names carefully in this work. Discuss the significance of the various places alluded to here, such as the gardens, the Castle of Chillon, the Palace of the Caesars, the Colosseum, St. Peter’s, and so on. 6. Two of the most crucial words in this story are “innocent” and “intimate,” especially because the characters define them in various ways and apply them to Daisy’s relations with others. Find the places in which these words are used and discuss the ways in which these loaded terms help to create tension (and misunderstandings) in the story. 7. Several of the secondary characters play an important role in “Daisy Miller,” among them Randolph, Mr. Giovanelli, and three American ladies: Mrs. Costello, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Walker. Explain the function of each character in the story. 8. The theme of illness is significant here; explain its function in the story. 9. In “Daisy Miller: A Study,” Does James follow the precepts of realism and of art as he describes them in “The Art of Fiction”? 10. What does it mean to be an American in this story? Campbell, Dr. Donna.Reading Questions on Daisy Miller. 2005. 20 Feb. 2009. Washington State U. < http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/daisymillerques.htm >. Reading Questions Set Two: Henry James's "Daisy Miller: A Study" (1878) Henry James (1843-1916) was born into a prosperous and cultivated family; his father was a philosopher of mystical leanings, his sister Alice a gifted observer and author of an admired diary, and his brother William an influential psychologist, author of The Will to Believe, and founder of a school of American "pragmatism." Unlike the other writers studied in this course, James could afford to write until he became self-sustaining, and during a period in which commerical interests seemed increasingly to dominate American society, his works portrayed with some scepticism a class of wealthy Americans, their hangers-on and their European allies and counterparts. James lived with his family in Europe during his adolescence, and later resided for periods in France and Italy before moving to England in 1876. He wrote stories and essays for periodicals, then turned to novels and novellas; The Passionate Pilgrim and Roderick Hudson were published in 1875, followed by The American (1877), Daisy Miller (1878) and--among others, The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), The Princess Casmassima (1886), The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904). He died in England in 1916 after becoming a British citizen during the first World War. His prefaces to his novels lay out his artistic ideals for narrative point of view, description, plotting, and characterization. He also wrote several quasiautobiographical stories exploring psychological themes, among them "The Beast in the Jungle" (1903). Though interested in the social movements of the time (e. g., anarchism, feminism), several
of his works provide biting satires of would-be reformers. "Daisy Miller" may be seen as an early example of the "new woman" genre; and its heroine's death as an authorial "punishment" on the woman who oversteps familiar bounds, even if she remains technically "innocent." Many of James's novels explore the ideals, illusions, and failures of manners and morals, which lay behind confident exteriors. His observers are usually slightly detached, and often preoccupied with "the American personality," but also removed from it. Aspects of the pattern of "Daisy Miller" are sometimes repeated--an innocent narrator or character meets Europeans whose slightly sinister sophistication and guile is too much for the bumptuous (The American), trusting (The Golden Bowl), or naïve/inexperienced (The Ambassadors) protagonist/observer. The device of using a narrator who is neither entirely American nor entirely European enables James's narrator to criticize several cultures from a seemingly neutral position. Sexuality and love are viewed through a veil of innuendo and scepticism. Much of the plot interest turns on the narrator's effort at understanding the puzzle of others's lives, determining the degree to which the characters understand their own fate, and deciding on the extent to which he (always he) should mete out or withhold judgment on them, and less often, on himself. His characters are cultured, comfortably off, and free to devote their lives to affairs of the emotions or heart, and they often use this leisure for unwise or disappointing ends. 1. What forms of pride might this story have evoked in American readers of James's time? What anxieties about the nature of their own society might it have evoked? 2. To which aspects of the plot and characterization do you think James's British readers might have responded favorably? 3. What are the implications of the story's subtitle, "A Study"? Of the names "Winterbourne" and "Daisy"? 4. To what degree do you think the character of Daisy Miller might have embodied traits of a wealthy American girl of her day? Are there unrealistic or uncharacteristic aspects of her character, and if so, do these matter? 5. What does the story mean by "innocence"? Why is Daisy Miller's relative "innocence" of importance to all who meet her? 6. To what extent is this story organized around stereotypes? Are these stereotypes still current? Would they have bothered readers of the time? 7. What themes does this story share in common with those by Irving, Hawthorne and Melville we have read? What are some major contrasts? 8. To what extent is the plot determined by the fact that the title character is a young, attractive woman? Would the attitudes conveyed by Winterbourne have been relatively tolerant, restrictive, or typical for his day? How did contemporary novels treat themes of pre-marital sex and adultery? 9. What effect is created by opening the story in a Swiss hotel frequented by expatriates? Do some aspects of the opening description predispose the reader to expect some of what follows? 10. What do we learn about the narrator in the opening sections--and what don't we learn? How is his "character" useful in permitting the unwinding of the plot? 11. How would you characterize James's style? His descriptions? What are some instances of irony in his descriptions? (e. g., Winterbourne's response to Randolph's description of his father, the constant references to Schenectady)
Page 1: DAISY MILLER HONORS ENGLISH Please
Page 5: 29. What is the reader supposed to

DAISY MILLER HONORS ENGLISH Please read through these ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?