Daisy Miller 613in some cases, chooses not to follow) social conven-
tions, finding them too constricting. Given her igno-
rance of how and why to follow social expectations,
who is responsible for educating her about them? Is
her mother, also unaware of these rules, responsible
for her daughter? Does that responsibility fall to the
men and women—Mrs. Costello and Mrs. Walker,
Winterbourne and Mr. Giovanelli—around her in
Vevey and Rome? Or, is Daisy finally responsible
for herself, for her education, and, in the end, for her
own death?
The women in Daisy’s community, older, mar-
ried, and long-time residents of Europe, cultivate
society’s exacting regulations, and they shun Daisy
for not conforming to them. Mrs. Costello feels
responsibility and allegiance not to Daisy but to her
social set. When Winterbourne realizes that his aunt
will ignore the Millers, Mrs. Costello explains, “ ‘I
wouldn’t if I hadn’t to, but I have to.’^ ” She also feels
responsible for her family, refuting Winterbourne’s
generalization that all American girls—including
Mrs. Costello’s granddaughters—act as innocently
and as ignorantly as Daisy Miller. Conversely, Mrs.
Walker feels personal responsibility, at least tem-
porarily, for Daisy. She warns the girl that walking
in public with Mr. Giovanelli is socially dangerous,
but Daisy takes her walk anyhow. Mrs. Walker even
follows the couple in her carriage in an “attempt
to save” the girl but to no avail (46). When Daisy
not only rejects her advice but also arrives with Mr.
Giovanelli hours late at Mrs. Walker’s next party, the
woman relinquishes any responsibility to Daisy and
vows never to invite the girl to her home again. Mrs.
Miller, the only other woman who might help Daisy,
is as ignorant of social conventions as her daughter
and thus proves helpless to guide her into society or,
in the end, even to save her life.
Although men offer Daisy more companionship
in the novella, they do not accept responsibility for
her social education. To the contrary, both Winter-
bourne and Mr. Giovanelli seem to enjoy Daisy’s
breaking of restrictive social rules. The latter enjoys
strolling about the Pincio in Rome with the girl,
while Winterbourne acknowledges that he is able to
take liberties with Daisy Miller that are unavailable
to him when he socializes with young, single women
in Geneva. A student of sorts during his months in
Geneva, he makes a study of Daisy, drawing on his
and others’ observations of the girl in vain to classify
her as either innocent and uncivilized or as flirta-
tious and even immoral. Accordingly, he is, in turn,
thrilled and repelled by Daisy’s insistence on acting
independently, and he wavers between defending
and deriding her. But when he spies her with Mr.
Giovanelli at the Colosseum late at night, he feels
relieved to settle on one definition—immoral—and
offers her a final piece of advice: to take medication
to avoid contracting malaria. His advice comes too
late; after Daisy’s funeral, Winterbourne momen-
tarily feels some responsibility for her loss. He tells
his aunt that, having lived so long in Europe, he “was
booked to make a mistake” in his dealings with a
young American girl. His return to Geneva suggests
that knowing Daisy has left no impact on him and
that his sense of responsibility is fleeting.
Despite the responsibility those around her
might bear, Daisy Miller is responsible, at least in
part, for her actions. Even when told of social con-
ventions, Daisy often ignores them. She seeks to
shock Winterbourne by proposing to visit the castle
of Chillon with him at night. “ ‘That’s all I want,’ ”
she tells him, “ ‘a little fuss!’ ” She ignites more than
a little fuss, however, when she rejects all advice
given her. She chooses to meet Winterbourne in a
crowded hotel lobby for their daytime trip to the
castle, and she persists in spending time with Mr.
Giovanelli, declaring herself improper for declin-
ing Mrs. Walker’s offer of a ride home from the
Pincio (48). When Winterbourne offers her the last
of his advice, Daisy rejects this suggestion as well,
telling him she does not care if she falls ill. In the
end, Daisy’s death results from her initial ignorance
and eventual forthright rejection of social rules as
defined by ex-patriate Americans in Europe. Given
her nouveau riche status, however, Daisy could
not know the rules of this rarefied society, and
so responsibility falls, as well, on those characters
who refused to take upon themselves her cultural
education.
Melanie BrownSocial claSS in Daisy Miller
Daisy visits Geneva expecting to find people and
social events similar to those she has experienced