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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daisy_miller.jpg]]
2
3->'''Winterbourne:''' What has she been doing?\
4'''Mrs. Walker:''' Everything that is not done here.
5
6An 1878 {{novella}} by Creator/HenryJames -- half romantic comedy, half social commentary and mockery of rich, snobby Americans who tried to imitate rich, snobby Europeans. Available [[http://books.google.com/books?id=PGRAoPa6zUwC here]].
7
8Frederick Winterbourne, age 27, was just another average, mundane, young man, American by birth but raised in Europe since childhood, until he took a break from "studying" in Geneva to visit his aunt in Vevey, Switzerland. That's when he met her: 19-year-old Daisy Miller from Schenectady, New York, on a tour of Europe with her mother and little brother. From the moment she stumbles across his path as he's sitting in the hotel garden drinking coffee, Winterbourne is smitten by her. She's beautiful, graceful, friendly... and, he soons learns, the enemy of all respectable American snobs trying to fit in among European snobs. Her crimes are unforgiveable. She's a chatterbox! She treats her courier, Eugenio, like he's her friend and equal! She takes strolls in public alone or worse, with men she's not related to! She... ''flirts!'' In short, she's an independent, stubborn, lively young woman who's interested in everything, wants to be friends with everybody, and literally refuses to do as the Romans do when in Rome. No amount of mortification or warnings from her compatriots can convince her to live life by anything but her own rules and what makes her happy, propriety be damned!
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10Despite his aunt's warning to stay away from the eccentric, vulgar Miller girl and her equally vulgar family, Winterbourne is determined to get to know Daisy better, if only to try to figure out what makes her tick, even taking her on an excursion to Castle Chillon. Since Winterbourne has to return to Geneva afterwards, the two plan to meet again in Rome. Winterbourne's enthusiasm for the plan fades, however, once he arrives and hears the scandalous stories of Miss Miller flirting with every man in Italy. When she dares to stroll along the Pincio with Winterbourne on one arm and her friend Mr. Giovanelli on the other and later brings Giovanelli to Mrs. Walker's party, her fellow Americans decide she has gone too far and actively begin to give her the cold shoulder, lest their European companions believe they approve of her behavior.
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12Winterbourne must resolve a dilemma: Is Daisy simply an innocent American girl worth thinking well of? Or is she really as senseless and vulgar as everyone says she is and not worthy of all the anxiety he suffers trying to figure it out? He finally decides she does not deserve his efforts to think well of her when he finds her hanging out with Giovanelli in the Colosseum in the middle of the night, which everyone knows is the perfect time for contracting the deadly Roman fever (malaria, transmitted chiefly by the mosquitoes that came out after dark). He insists he doesn't even care if what she told him about being engaged was true or a joke.
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14With all the misunderstandings, bad judgment and Daisy's clever wit, the scandal plays out like a typical romantic comedy. And then [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Daisy dies of Roman fever,]] and Winterbourne realizes too late that he was wrong about her, so he goes back to his older mistress in Geneva since it's too late for him to change. He has lived too long in foreign parts.
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16James and his friend William Dean Howells spent many a night banging their heads against the wall over how many American readers [[MisaimedFandom thought Daisy was an insult to Americans]] when, clearly, James was trying to insult ''the Americans who ostracized her just for not being a snob!'' Sadly, they proved James' point all too well, rejecting the bold girl as if they, like their counterparts within the story, "desired to express to observant Europeans the great truth that, though Miss Daisy Miller was a young American lady, her behavior was not representative -- was regarded by her compatriots as abnormal."
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18Got a 1974 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] directed by Creator/PeterBogdanovich and starring Creator/CybillShepherd in the title role, with Barry Brown as Winterbourne and Creator/ClorisLeachman as Daisy's mother.
19
20----
21!!Daisy herself is an example of:
22
23%% * BlitheSpirit
24* DeadpanSnarker: She's a snarky lady.
25-->"But if you won't flirt with me, do cease, at least, to flirt with your friend at the piano; they don't understand that sort of thing here."\
26"I thought they understood nothing else!" exclaimed Daisy.\
27"Not in young unmarried women."\
28"It seems to me much more proper in young unmarried women than in old married ones," Daisy declared.
29%% * GoodBadGirl
30* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Blonde, beautiful, young and innocent...
31* [[TheHeroDies The Heroine Dies]]: [[spoiler: Her sad eventual fate.]]
32%% * SpiritedYoungLady
33* WellExcuseMePrincess
34-->"It has never occurred to Mr. Winterbourne to offer me any tea," she said with her little tormenting manner.\
35"I have offered you advice," Winterbourne rejoined.\
36"I prefer weak tea!" cried Daisy, and she went off with the brilliant Giovanelli.
37%% * YouGoGirl, due to the {{Double Standard}}s of gender relations.
38----
39!!The story provides examples of:
40
41* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Randolph Miller
42* ConflictingLoyalty: Winterborne, between Daisy and high society.
43* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:Winterborne to Daisy, due to her death.]]
44* DoubleEntendre: "I noticed you were as stiff as an umbrella the first time I saw you."
45* DoubleStandard: True to the times the story is set in. Daisy is judged solely by the level of her "innocence", which is in turn measured by her openly talking to and taking walks with men. One of the people most concerned with her "innocence" is Winterbourne, [[{{Hypocrite}} a man who has a lover]]. Even Winterbourne's aunt, a guardian of societal rules, snarks about how her nephew is privileged for being a man.
46* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Winterborne realizes how wrong he was to help ostracize Daisy Miller just as she dies of Roman fever.]]
47* TheFilmOfTheBook
48* {{Foreshadowing}}
49-->"You have lived too long out of the country. You will be sure to make some great mistake. You are too innocent."\
50"My dear aunt, I am not so innocent," said Winterbourne, smiling and curling his mustache.
51* GossipyHens: Winterborne's aunt and other high society women.
52* GreenEyedEpiphany: ''Definitely'' a result of Daisy flirting with Giovanelli.
53* HaveAGayOldTime
54-->"He wondered what were the regular conditions and limitations of one's intercourse with a pretty American flirt. It presently became apparent that he was on the way to learn."
55* {{Hypocrite}}: Winterbourne has a lover, but wishes that Daisy flirts only with him, does what he tells her to do, and is very concerned about her "innocence".
56* IronicEcho: "You were right in that remark that you made last summer. I was booked to make a mistake. I have lived too long in foreign parts." Mrs. Costello meant that Winterbourne would become involved in a scandalous relationship; what Winterbourne regrets is that he didn't.
57* JustFriends: What Daisy insists Giovanelli is to her.
58* LatinLover: Giovanelli
59* LoveHurts: Boy does it ever.
60* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Both Daisy (possibly [[OperationJealousy intentionally]]) and Winterbourne (because he can't make up his mind).
61* {{Meaningful Name}}s: A relationship between a guy with ''winter'' in his name and a girl named after a ''flower'' is destined to be disastrous. The last name "Miller" also implies New Money -- Daisy's father earned his fortune [[NonIdleRich from a trade]] (like a miller), instead of inheriting it. [[SarcasmMode Oh, the shame!]]
62* MyGirlIsNotASlut: The very essence of Winterbourne's dilemma about Daisy. And he is one of the most open-minded people about her.
63* NeverMyFault: Winterbourne at least partly blames Giovanelli for [[spoiler: Daisy's death.]]
64-->Winterbourne felt sore and angry. "Why the devil," he asked, "did you take her to that [[spoiler:fatal]] place?"\
65Mr. Giovanelli's urbanity was apparently imperturbable. He looked on the ground a moment, and then he said, "For myself I had no fear; and she wanted to go."\
66"That was no reason!" Winterbourne declared.
67* NiceToTheWaiter: One of the reasons the Millers' compatriots scorn them is for how nice and friendly they are to their courier, Eugenio.
68* NoHuggingNoKissing: Not in ''proper'' American or European society, you won't! [[DoubleStandard At least, only if you're a girl.]]
69* NoLongerWithUs: Randolph tells Winterbourne that his father "is in a better place than Europe". What place? "The sphere of celestial reward"? Nope, just Schenectady.
70* RomanticFalseLead: Giovanelli is treated like a joke by the snobbish American characters, but a modern reader will probably see him as a decent man who works for a living, has good manners, can sing well (not that Mrs. Walker's guests would applaud him) and is a lot less judgmental about and understands Daisy better than even Winterbourne (actually, Winterbourne himself notes some of Giovanelli's good qualities and considers him an intelligent man). Overall, Daisy's Italian suitor may now seem more sympathetic than the [[SympatheticPOV protagonist.]]
71* OpenMindedParent: Mrs. Miller.
72* OperationJealousy: Possibly Daisy's flirting with Giovanelli.
73* {{Pride}}: Mrs. Walker's social circle most notably is defined by this, but Daisy has her share as well: she won't bow to the rules that society is trying to shove on her.
74* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Winterborne is the main and POV character, while Daisy Miller's name is on the title.
75* ShaggyDogStory: After being ostracized by high society and strung along by Winterborne throughout the whole story, [[spoiler:Daisy dies of Roman fever.]]
76* SignatureStyle: James hadn't developed his signature paragraph-long-sentences style in 1878, but he applied this style to his revision of the story in 1909.
77* TemptingFate
78-->'"I don't care," said Daisy in a little strange tone, "[[spoiler:whether I have Roman fever or not!]]"
79* TwiceShy
80* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: After Winterbourne returns to the Pincio to look for Daisy, the sight of Daisy and Giovanelli cuddling under her parasol makes him turn right around.

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