More Than Meets the Eye

In 1877 Henry James wrote a novel called Daisy Miller inspired out of a rumor he heard from a friend of a girl traveling to Europe with her mother and brother and getting into some sorts of flirtatious conflict with men. Henry James then wrote Daisy Miller, a rich and pretty, American girl traveling through Europe with her mother and younger brother. Daisy wants to be exposed to European high society but refuses to behave as a European lady of society. Despite this, Daisy Miller seems to have an attractive attitude of being carefree and ongoing with other people, especially men. She met a man named Winterbourne who seem to feel some sort of attraction for her because she is not easy to figure out and because of such, he is mystified by her.  Winterbourne with time start questioning, along with other individuals, the behavior of miss Daisy Miller. She acts to careless and seem to be a flirt with any man. Daisy had met a man named Mr. Giovanelli. While not much is said about him, it seems he too, is careless around and with Daisy. One night as Winterbourne was passing over a coliseum, he spots Daisy and Mr Giovanelli together. He thought of this behavior as reckless, irresponsible and self-respect lacking. However he was still concerned about the health of Daisy Miller. It was said that many people that spend the night outside in the moonlight could contract Malaria, known as “Roman Fever” He confronted Mr. Giovanelli with this and eventually left. A few days later Daisy became gravely ill and died of what seem to be Malaria. Before leaving the world behind she said some final words, directed towards Winterbourne. She said she cared for what he thought about her, even though she said nothing before. Winterbourne then, began to question if he had misjudged Daisy as a reckless woman and a flirt. It seemed there was much more to her than meets the eye. He realized, deep down she was being herself. She did not let society dictate her behavior neither as a woman, nor as a high class of society. She opted to live a life carefree of what others thought. Clearly she might have projected herself badly, but she was never a bad person. The moment she died and Winterbourne realized this by her words, he felt overwhelmed and had to leave Europe for some time, he had lived far too long in Europe. Eventually he comes back. He needed might have needed a break to find himself and think about who he and Daisy was other than individuals judged and controlled by society. This teaches us that we should never judge someone entirely by their behavior. We do not know what feeds this behavior and what background does it have. The moment you judge and try to tell others what to do, you become slave of those demanding words and actions, if something were to happen to that person. Words become a burden.

Here is a trailer of the Daisy Miller movie, not for underage people.