This week I didn’t think I would have much to talk about because reading James’ first work The Art of Fiction bored me unlike anything I am used to. However, I really enjoyed the second piece we read, Daisy Miller: A Study. This piece made me laugh at first because I kept thinking how ridiculous is this girl? Then as I continued I realized it was saying a lot of how Americans were perceived and I was actually offended. I felt like James was trying to say that American people have no concept of how they are supposed to present themselves or how they are supposed to act with “civilized” society. In particular on page 473 when she begins to divulge her situation in Europe and how her brother doesn’t have a teacher while they travel. He seems to be taken aback by her abruptness as well as her ability to not be flustered by his advances. On page 475 he seems to be increasingly shocked when she does not take surprise to going to a monument with him and he reacts as though this is not proper. I believe she makes these responses because she does not feel like her life should be a secret and she is more concerned about being able to go to the castle than whether or not she is being proper. Especially because she was not able to go due to her brother’s need to do what he wants not what others want. As the story continued I was also a little shocked that James made it sound like American women are not proper enough to engage in European society.
Then we discussed in class how James made a statement that he tried to portray Daisy as innocent and that he was not trying to say anything about American people especially young American women. However, I feel like how can he honestly justify himself and whole heartedly say he didn’t mean it the way people interpreted it. Without that knowledge from class I still would have been a little shocked that he made a piece this way. I still question if James was trying to make a point on America or if the point he was trying to make was really towards Europeans? It would make sense to me that maybe he is assuming that European people are much too uptight and that they should find a happy medium with the American ways.
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I think the word for James's comment would be "disingenuous." He's protesting--a little too much, wouldn't you say?--that he didn't mean to criticize Daisy, or Americans, etc., and yet "Daisy Miller" was widely perceived as a condemnation of American girls and American customs.
It's a little like when a celebrity says something insulting toward a group and then says, "I'm sorry if you were offended by it." It's essentially a non-apology.
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