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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Daisy Miller
Leslie Fiedler who has written about Daisy Miller in her literary critic entitled THAT AMERICAN GIRL’ states that:
Daisy is. . . the prototype of all those young American female tourists who continue to baffle their continental lovers with an
innocence not at all impeached, though they have taken to sleeping with their Giovanellis as well as standing with them in
the moonlight. What the European male fails to understand is that the American Girl is innocent by definition, mythically
innocent; and that her purity depends upon nothing she says or does.
. .
http:www.omnisourcedirect.comebooksbook- sitesdaisy-millerhome-daisy-miller.htm,
In Leslie Fiedler’s opinion, what Daisy had done was not the wrong thing. She considers that Daisy was just an innocent young American with
all her purity. Her innocence were just like sleeping with Giovanellis as well as standing with them in the moonlight or making an unchaperoned
day trip with Winterbourne to visit the famous old Castle Chillon.
She adds that Daisy was a prototype of a young American that represented Americans. She was very different from the Europeans. No one
could judge her as a bad girl although there were no Europeans who behaved just liked her.
Sumayah, in her research entitled Aspek-Aspek Romantisme Dalam Daisy Miller Karya Henry James, says that ”Daisy Miller merupakan
perwujudan dari aspek-aspek kebebasan, individualisme, kealamiahan, kepolosan, dan kemurnian” 1991, p. 59. She uses Dynamic Structuralism
theory as her research approach. She notes that freedom meant out of all rules and norms that must be obeyed. Daisy was free from society’s rules
and religion and she might do everything she liked. She did not want to obey the norms in Rome and Vevey where it was forbidden for a girl to
have an intimate friend freely. She did everything she liked although people did not like it and as a consequence people kept away from her and some
judged her as a bad girl. Henry James in American Poetry and Prose states, ”It is a complex
fate to be an American…” Foerster, 1970, p. 637. In the novel, Daisy had to fight against the norms and values in Europe. In fact, she was a young
American who had a great passion as a teen. She had to stand by herself and nobody liked to what she did. People considered that all she did were
against the society’s norms, that’s why she had to fight as James states “…and one of the responsibilities is fighting against a superstitious
valuation of Europe” Foerster, 1970, p. 637.
B. Henry James Life and Carrier
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