{"id":514,"date":"2020-09-18T21:03:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T21:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=514"},"modified":"2020-09-18T21:04:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T21:04:16","slug":"winterbournes-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2020\/09\/18\/winterbournes-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Winterbourne’s Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout Daisy Miller<\/em>, Winterbourne seems to hover between two cultures, European and American. By extension, he also hovers between propriety and impropriety, and the novel seems to be leading him to a point where he must make a choice between the two. Winterbourne is entirely infatuated with Daisy, and she represents his desire to break free from European societal expectations, although it seems that she pushes a little too much against convention for his comfort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The climax of Winterbourne\u2019s indecision comes near the end of chapter three, when Mrs. Walker attempts to convince Daisy to ride in her carriage instead of walking around with Mr. Giovanelli. Daisy asks Winterbourne what he thinks she should do, and it seems as though she is knowingly testing him:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a little pink flush in her cheek; she was tremendously pretty. \u2018Does Mr. Winterbourne think,\u2019 she asked slowly, smiling, throwing back her head and glancing at him from head to foot, \u2018that – to save my reputation – I ought to get into the carriage?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Winterbourne is finally asked to choose between what is socially proper and the carefree impropriety represented by Daisy – the choice he\u2019s been avoiding all throughout the novel. <\/span>He spends a great deal of time considering how to respond, and perhaps the language used gives away his answer sooner than anticipated: \u201che himself, in fact, must speak in accordance with gallantry\u201d (43). The word \u201cmust\u201d prompts the question of \u201cwhy?\u201d Why must Winterbourne \u201cspeak in accordance with gallantry\u201d? What does \u201cgallantry\u201d mean in this specific situation? \u201cMust\u201d implies an obligation, in this case to social rules, while \u201cgallantry\u201d seems to imply chivalrous, gentlemanly behavior. Winterbourne is called to act \u201cin accordance with\u201d the expectations of Mrs. Walker, and he finds that \u201cthe finest gallantry, here, was simply to tell [Dasiy] the truth\u2026\u201d. But truth is subjective, as the next phrase discreetly shows: \u201cThe truth, <\/span>for Winterbourne<\/b>\u2026 was that Daisy Miller should take Mrs. Walker\u2019s advice\u201d (43). The \u201ctruth\u201d that Winterbourne lands upon is, in fact, the choice he makes between \u2018proper\u2019 and \u2018reckless\u2019 behavior. Perhaps by labeling it as \u201ctruth,\u201d Winterbourne makes an effort to lift some responsibility from his own shoulders. Daisy should take Mrs. Walker\u2019s advice; this is not Winterbourne’s own opinion, but “the truth.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Winterbourne\u2019s response to Daisy\u2019s question, and his answer to the question of (im)propriety that has plagued him through the novel, is carefully considered and \u201cvery gently\u201d delivered (43). Daisy, however, responds sharply: \u201cDaisy gave a violent laugh. \u2018I never heard anything so stiff! If this is improper, Mrs. Walker,\u2019 she pursued, \u2018then I am all improper and you must give me up.\u2019\u201d There is a contrast between Winterbourne\u2019s gentle response and Daisy\u2019s \u201cviolent laugh,\u201d which perhaps illustrates the contrasting ways they present themselves to the world. They each flirt and carry on intimate relationships with multiple people – Daisy and her various gentlemen, Winterbourne and his implied lover in Geneva, as well as the \u201ctwo or three women\u2026 who were great coquettes\u2026 with whom one\u2019s relations were liable to take a serious turn\u201d (12) – but they present themselves differently to society, and receive different reactions from their onlookers. Winterbourne has the air of a gentleman, and is never judged too harshly for associating with Daisy (nor, interestingly, with his married female friend Mrs. Walker, whose husband never actually makes an appearance in the text). Daisy, on the other hand, is judged incredibly harshly for her carefree, reckless behavior, to the point of being shunned at Mrs. Walker\u2019s party. There are other layers to this, such as a cultural layer and a gendered double standard, but the point remains that Daisy and Winterbourne are similar characters who choose to go down different paths. They may have been walking along together thus far, but this point in the novel marks the place where the path splits. Daisy invites Winterbourne down one way, but he hesitatingly chooses the other, and in doing so loses Daisy forever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout Daisy Miller, Winterbourne seems to hover between two cultures, European and American. By extension, he also hovers between propriety and impropriety, and the novel seems to be leading him to a point where he must make a choice between the two. Winterbourne is entirely infatuated with Daisy, and she represents his desire to break … Continue reading Winterbourne’s Choice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4300,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[138869,138874],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020","tag-daisy-miller","tag-winterbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","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\/4300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}