Why is Daisy Miller a flirt? Her tendency toward romantic levity and playfulness could be considered a part of her personality, but it seems to hint toward a complex and troubled childhood past. Daisy Miller is unable to “grow up” in her society and act her age. Daisy Miller’s age and maturity is framed for us right away—just before she is introduced to the reader, Mr. Winterbourne thinks of his own infancy (James 6). Henry James’ language draws a focus toward age, as Daisy Miller is frequently referred to as the “young girl” and Randalph is dubbed a “vivacious infant” (6). The youth and maturity of Daisy is a strong underlying theme.
To understood how past childhood experiences affect adulthood, let us turn to Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Remembering, Repeating, and Working-Through, he states that: “There is one special class of experiences of the utmost importance for which no memory can as a rule be recovered. There are experiences which occurred in very early childhood and were not understood at the time but which were subsequently understood and interpreted” (James 149). It seems that Daisy has come to recall past traumatic childhood experiences, and this is the source for her childish tendencies. She feels victimized by past occurrences in her life, and we see this with Daisy’s strained relationship with her overprotective mother, Mrs. Miller. When Mr. Winterbourne and Daisy are out walking, Daisy tells him that her mother disapproves of her out walking with gentlemen, but she decides to do so anyway. She tells him that their walk: “’isn’t for me; it’s for you—that is, it’s for her. Well; I don’t know who it’s for! My mother doesn’t like any of my gentleman friends. . . . But I do introduce them – almost always. If I didn’t introduce my gentleman friends to mother,’ the young girl added, in her little soft, flat monotone ‘I shouldn’t think it was natural’” (James 22). Here we see the inner conflict in Daisy Miller between her and her mother. She wants to rebel against her mother’s constraints, but she also feels she must conform with the norms of her society. In this sense, Daisy Miller feels trapped in her own childlike self that her mother has constructed for her, but unable to rise above her society to escape it.
Does Daisy feel like she must conform to the norms of society? It seems to me, through her constant rebellion, that she does not care very much at all. I do think that Mrs. Miller is an interesting character, but I’m I don’t think she is remotely constraining. That, perhaps, is one of the factors that allows for Daisy’s behavior, but I don’t think that it is the cause of it. I do think what you touch on in the quote you observed, about Daisy not knowing “who it’s for” is compelling. Despite Daisy’s open defiance and outspokenness, she has a hard time vocalizing her motivations. Perhaps this is because of a psychological repression, I don’t think that’s something the text lends itself to. Rather, I wonder how James and Winterbourne understand or construct Daisy’s motivations, and what this says about Daisy. I’m not sure there is much to go on in the text that gives a real answer to why Daisy behaves the way she does, and that itself is very interesting.
I think it’s interesting how you stated that Daisy’s flirtacious personality comes from her childhood. I think that this relates to Jane Eyre because her childhood affected her so much that she still tends to act like a child and sometimes plays the victim.
REAL COMMENT!
I think that both Daisy and Jane developed unique personalities because of their childhood. Daisy developed her flirtatious personality from what I believe to be a lack of a mother’s influence while Jane developed an aggression to those who try to belittle her. Both Jane and Daisy had female figures that impacted who they became. Mrs. Reed made Jane more aggressive while Daisy’s mother made Daisy more flirtacious.
I agree that Daisy’s personality has been constructed by her mother. I like how you used evidence from our reading of Freud to explain this. Her relationship with her mother was one that was hard to understand, and or find the origin of. I think you have a good hypothesis for why the relationship between Daisy and Mrs. Miller is why it is. However, I don’t know if I would call her mother over protective. I saw her mothering style more as a disregard for her children, and almost a laziness in Mrs. Miller.