1865-1914: Short Answer Quiz

Henry James, Daisy Miller


  1. Part of the reason the Americans of Geneva and Rome condemn Daisy’s behavior is because she strays into areas and with company that she ought to have realized would tarnish her reputation: the ultimate example is Daisy’s visit to the Colosseum with Giovanelli. On the other hand, Winterbourne only knows they were there together because he had gone there himself, with no shame of knowing either of them. Based on this contradiction, explain what Winterbourne’s aunt means early on in the story when she tells him “If, after what happens—at Vevey and everywhere—you desire to keep up the acquaintance [with the Millers], you are very welcome. Of course a man may know every one. Men are welcome to the privilege!” (409 [full ed.] 1512 [shorter ed.]).

  1. Winterbourne puts substantial effort into getting Daisy to visit the Château de Chillon with him; she responds by inviting him to “go round” with the Millers. When he refuses because of unspecified obligations, “for the next ten minutes she did nothing but call him horrid. Poor Winterbourne was fairly bewildered; no young lady had as yet done him the honor to be so agitated by the announcement of his movements. His companion, after this, ceased to pay any attention to the curiosities of Chillon or the beauties of the lake; she opened fire upon the mysterious charmer in Geneva, whom she appeared to have instantly taken it for granted that he was hurrying back to see” (408 [full ed.] 1511 [shorter ed.]). Explain what Daisy means by calling Winterbourne horrid, and describe why Winterbourne is bewildered by her behavior.

  1. When Winterbourne announces that he will be walking through the Pincian Gardens with Daisy and Giovanelli, she pushes back at his “imperious” tone: “The young girl looked at him more gravely, but with eyes that were prettier than ever. ‘I have never allowed a gentleman to dictate to me, or to interfere with anything that I do’” (414 [full ed.] 1517 [shorter ed.]). Based on this passage, what does Winterbourne find attractive in Daisy? Do you think we are meant to see her refusal to be dictated to as a mistake or as strength of character?

  1. At the last party Daisy attends at Mrs. Walker’s, Winterbourne alludes to the scandal Daisy is making of herself with Giovanelli, while she accuses him of prudishness. He informs her she has been flirting, while she calls her friendship with Giovanelli “intimate.”—“‘Ah,’ rejoined Winterbourne, ‘if you are in love with each other it is another affair,’” which shocks her and bewilders Winterbourne once again. “‘Mr. Giovanelli, at least,’ she said, giving her interlocutor a single glance, ‘never says such very disagreeable things to me.’” Why did Daisy find Winterbourne’s comment so “very disagreeable” (420 [full ed.] 1523 [shorter ed.])?

  1. After Winterbourne hears Daisy’s last message to him from Mrs. Miller, and interviewing Giovanelli discovers that he did not think Daisy would ever marry him, Winterbourne declares to his aunt, “You were right in that remark you made last summer. I was booked to make a mistake. I have lived too long in foreign parts” (429 [full ed.] 1532 [shorter ed.]). Assume that Winterbourne’s this has something to do with his behavior toward Daisy, and explain what he means by “mistake.”



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