On page six of Henry James’, Daisy Miller, Winterbourne and Master Randolph are discussing how American things are the best. Master Randolph says that American candy is the best while Winterbourne says that American boys are the best. The conversation continues and Winterbourne see’s Randolph sister and declares that American women are the best.
“She was dressed in white muslin, with a hundred frills and flounces, and knots of pale coloured ribbon (James, 6).” This line indicates that Winterbourne is initially attracted to Daisy Miller because of his expectations of her appearance. This is proven from the words “white, frills and pale coloured.” What I mean is that the color white represents innocence, purity, virginity, and perfection. This is important because all of the words contain a positive connotation (colorwheelpro.com) which can infer that Winterbourne views Daisy Miller positively because he thinks she is innocent, pure, a virgin and perfect.
I can conclude that using the word “frills” to describe what Daisy is wearing is comparing her to a child. I associate the words frilly and frilled with little girls dresses which is important because it indicates similar characteristics that the color white represents. It shows that Winterbourne initially judges Daisy’s personality based off of her appearance and is attracted to the fact that she has the innocence, purity, sexual experience and perfection that a little girl would have. The most important part of this is that Winterbourne expects Daisy to be a passive and well mannered girl that he would be able to control. He also thinks that she has the manners of an upperclass woman meaning that she does not speak out against people and is accepted by the upper classes social norms. These norms would include refraining from being openly sexual and flirting with men.
Winterbourne’s“pale coloured” description of Daisy’s outfit proves his schema of Daisy. Pale, in contrast to bright or bold is rather hidden. It does not have the power to be overpowering and is very limited in attracting attention. This is the same exact way that Winterbourne interprets Daisy’s personality, he believes that she is a soft spoken girl who will never be the center of attention. The importance of how Winterbourne describes Daisy’s outfit is foreshadowing that Daisy’s appearance is not representative of her personality. This is most important because it foreshadows that Daisy breaks the social norms of a woman in the upper class.
I agree with your reading of Winterbourne’s initial reaction of Daisy: that she is pure, muted, and childlike. If we connect that observation with other sections where Winterbourne describes Daisy we see that he constantly returns to the his first impression, before making “except”ions. That is to say, Winterbourne says things like, ““She was very quiet, she sat in a charming tranquil attitude; but her lips and eyes were constantly moving” which affirm his initial impression (she’s quiet) but also subtly acknowledges her real self (her talks a lot and can’t sit still) (11).
I also agree with how you read this first interaction between Daisy and Winterbourne. I think your association with frills and little girls is an interesting one–I agree that Daisy is like a little girl because she is always being described in a childlike manner. Something I was able to draw from this post was that Winterbourne is constantly mentioning Daisy’s physical beauty–however, a lot of this “physical” beauty could be attributed beyond “prettiness” and the allure of Daisy could largely have to do with child-like innocence.
Great insight Aliya! Your post correlates with fishele’s blogpost, that Mr. Winterbourne is primarily attracted to Daisy based on her appearance. Both of you identify the use of language to suggest emotions of affection from Mr. Winterbourne. While I do think Mr. Winterbourne idealized Daisy, he does not seem to have fallen in love with her; when she dies, he is incensed for Mr. Giovanelli having taken advantage of her innocence (James 63). This reinforces Daisy as a child character that must be protected, not as a potential wife with which to raise children.