Observation in Daisy Miller Essay -- Henry James, Daisy Miller

He said to himself that she was too neat and childish, too untrained and unreasoning, too provincial, to have reflected upon the ostracism or even to have perceived it. Then at other moments he believed that she carried about in her elegant and compulsive organism a defiant, passionate, perfectly observant consciousness of the impression she produced. (43) The socialites in Daisy Millers world aspire to a perfection, a nobility, and a lift of reference book. But character is a misleading word interiority is important only insofar as it reflects the assumed depths that come with an appearance of refinement, for the relationships in Daisy Miller A Study atomic number 18 formed by observation, non by conversation. Winterbournes penetrating gaze dissects and complicates Daisys appearance and, subsequently, personality, beyond what her own projection of an personality warrants. The narrator of total heat Jamess story furthers this atmosphere, peppering ocular and even abstra ct sentences with modifiers and other syntactical strokes to force a system of visual refinement on the reader. The reader, however, must engage his humor to form a picture of Daisy, her most evident quality, while he is kept privy to her relatively blank consciousness, thus ensuring an emotional detachment from her which allows him to realize her as she in truth is. The heroine captivates Winterbourne, on the other hand, for most of the story, because he can only surmise as to the mystery, or riddle, as the narrator calls it, of the ambiguity of Daisys mien beneath her un documentary exterior (46). His recognition of his reliance on the gaze, and on Daisys vacuity otherwise, triggers his final disgust and enables him to select an answer from the ... ...he right way of regarding get away Daisy Miller. (46) The vocabulary of empiric terms which can double as evaluative verbsreflecting, regardingstrikes the philosophical change in Winterbournes literal outlook, as does his usi ng her full semi-formal name as a way of sapping her of any suggestive mystery behind the ambiguous she. He later repents slightly after Daisys death, but seems not to take the lesson to heart. The real study of Daisy Miller A Study, then, is Winterbourne, whose faltering attempts to study Daisy we follow until his brief redemption, and of whom the final line of the narrativereinforcing his return to the gaze, albeit now enjoin at an obviously more deserving, but still very refined foreignershould come as no surprise ...he is studying hardan intimation that he is much interested in a very clever foreign lady (50). Observation in Daisy Miller Essay -- Henry James, Daisy Miller He said to himself that she was too light and childish, too uncultivated and unreasoning, too provincial, to have reflected upon the ostracism or even to have perceived it. Then at other moments he believed that she carried about in her elegant and irresponsible organism a defiant, passi onate, perfectly observant consciousness of the impression she produced. (43) The socialites in Daisy Millers world aspire to a perfection, a nobility, and a superlative of character. But character is a misleading word interiority is important only insofar as it reflects the assumed depths that come with an appearance of refinement, for the relationships in Daisy Miller A Study are formed by observation, not by conversation. Winterbournes penetrating gaze dissects and complicates Daisys appearance and, subsequently, personality, beyond what her own projection of an personality warrants. The narrator of Henry Jamess story furthers this atmosphere, peppering visual and even abstract sentences with modifiers and other syntactical strokes to force a system of visual refinement on the reader. The reader, however, must engage his imagination to form a picture of Daisy, her most evident quality, while he is kept privy to her relatively blank consciousness, thus ensuring an emotional detach ment from her which allows him to see her as she really is. The heroine captivates Winterbourne, on the other hand, for most of the story, because he can only surmise as to the mystery, or riddle, as the narrator calls it, of the ambiguity of Daisys behavior beneath her deceptive exterior (46). His recognition of his reliance on the gaze, and on Daisys vacuity otherwise, triggers his final disgust and enables him to select an answer from the ... ...he right way of regarding Miss Daisy Miller. (46) The vocabulary of observational terms which can double as evaluative verbsreflecting, regardingstrikes the philosophical change in Winterbournes literal outlook, as does his using her full formal name as a way of sapping her of any suggestive mystery behind the ambiguous she. He later repents slightly after Daisys death, but seems not to take the lesson to heart. The real study of Daisy Miller A Study, then, is Winterbourne, whose faltering attempts to study Daisy we follow until his brie f redemption, and of whom the final line of the narrativereinforcing his return to the gaze, albeit now directed at an ostensibly more deserving, but still very refined foreignershould come as no surprise ...he is studying hardan intimation that he is much interested in a very clever foreign lady (50).