{"id":496,"date":"2020-09-17T21:17:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T21:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=496"},"modified":"2020-09-17T21:17:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T21:17:51","slug":"winterbournes-little-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2020\/09\/17\/winterbournes-little-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Winterbourne’s “Little” Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Henry James is very deliberate in the descriptions of his characters in Daisy Miller<\/em>.\u00a0 Mr. Giovanelli is described repeatedly as being very handsome, but also very short.\u00a0When Winterbourne first meets him, James writes, \u201cWinterbourne perceived at some distance a little man standing with folded arms, nursing his cane\u201d (39).\u00a0 While Giovanelli\u2019s size could be contributed to Winterbourne\u2019s distance from him, the phrase \u201clittle man\u201d immediately associates Giovanelli as being shorter than Winterbourne.\u00a0 Also the use of \u201cnursing his cane\u201d implies that Giovanelli needs some kind of walking assistance that Winterbourne does not.\u00a0 As Winterbourne and Giovanelli are in competition for Daisy Miller\u2019s attention and affection, this characterization seems to paint Winterbourne in a more favorable light.\u00a0 Later on, Winterbourne also says, when referencing Giovanelli, \u201c\u2018The little Italian\u2026 He is apparently a perfectly respectable little man. I believe he is in a small way a cavaliere avvocato\u201d (53).\u00a0 Winterbourne cannot seem to ignore Giovanelli\u2019s size, stating it twice in the same section of dialogue.\u00a0 Even when describing Giovanelli\u2019s profession, which is very admirable, Winterbourne uses the unfortunate phrase \u201che is in a small way\u201d, which further reinstates Giovanelli\u2019s inferior size (53).<\/p>\n

Height seems to be a great source of stability and validation for Winterbourne.\u00a0 Throughout the novella, Winterbourne seems to be uncertain about everything, most especially, societal expectations and Daisy Miller\u2019s personality and interest in other men.\u00a0 David Lodge\u2019s introduction to Daisy Miller <\/em>describes Giovanelli as \u201ca handsome young man of dubious social status\u201d (xvii).\u00a0 Winterbourne struggles throughout the novella with proper social habits and expectations.\u00a0Giovanelli\u2019s ambiguous position in the social hierarchy is another layer of conflict and confusion for Winterbourne, as Giovanelli seems removed from the rules Winterbourne must follow, most especially with women. \u00a0David Lodge also states, \u201cDaisy is forcing the pace of [her and Winterbourne\u2019s] relationship\u201d (xxiii).\u00a0Traditionally, men have more control in the beginning of a relationship because women have to adhere to stricter social standards, but Daisy inverts this as she controls many men throughout the story.\u00a0Winterbourne becomes lost in this competition for Daisy and cannot gain any footing because she seems to desire attention from many different men.\u00a0 When Giovanelli\u2019s height becomes clear, Winterbourne holds onto this subject as a source of validation and superiority.\u00a0 As Daisy becomes enthralled with Giovanelli\u2019s beauty, Winterbourne reaffirms his masculinity and importance by repeatedly noting his superior size.<\/p>\n

This conflict between Winterbourne and Giovanelli seems to suggest that Winterbourne is insecure and highly unsure of his place in society as he is evidently very threatened by another man\u2019s attractiveness.\u00a0 Winterbourne holds onto the attention and affirmation he gets from Daisy Miller, and when her attraction strays to another man, Winterbourne is forced to cling to something as trivial as height to reinsert himself in the narrative and in Daisy Miller\u2019s life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henry James is very deliberate in the descriptions of his characters in Daisy Miller.\u00a0 Mr. Giovanelli is described repeatedly as being very handsome, but also very short.\u00a0When Winterbourne first meets him, James writes, \u201cWinterbourne perceived at some distance a little man standing with folded arms, nursing his cane\u201d (39).\u00a0 While Giovanelli\u2019s size could be contributed … Continue reading Winterbourne’s “Little” Competition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}