Daisy Miller: A Study -- Subtitle Analysis 黛西米勒副标题分析
Studier and the Studied:
Emulator, Examiner, Experimenter, Exemplar
——A Discussion of the Subtitle of Daisy Miller: A Study
Abstract:
A “Study”, to interpret, first involves two subjects—the studier and the studied—who are integrated intoa principle of four “E”that this paper propounds, namely, emulation, examination, experiment, and exemplar. By emulation, the word “study” refers to the behavior of learning bythe American expatriates, who embracenot merely the European scenery but itssocial sights, which, to some extent, can be called as a blind behavior. By examination, “study” refers to a kind of observation, of Winterbourne in his unique dual identity: a perplexedAmerican bystander considerably assimilated by Europe, a superior male who casts an asymmetrically gaze upon female, the inferior, in a power relation. Besides, the failed examination turns to be a tragedy of his own. By experiment, the wordmeans the design of the novella, a delicate fictional research conducted by Henry James, who intends to offera negative conclusion forthe encounter between the Old and the Newwith no evident partiality for either side. Lastly, exemplar—aliteralmeaning of “study”, albeit hardly used—refers to Daisyin that she serves as a representative of American for both sympathy and judgment in her cultural identity, as well as of a female victim under the asymmetric gender inequality in her gender identity. In the discussion, the four implications above would be considered in rotation.
A. Study 1: Emulation of the American expatriates
1. Mrs. Walkerwas one of those American ladieswho, while residing abroad, make a point, in their own phrase, of studying European society; and she had on this occasion collected severalspecimensof her diversely-born fellow-mortals to serve, as it were, astext-books.
2. “It may be enchanting, dear child, but it is not the custom here,” urged Mrs. Walker, leaning forward in her victoria with her hands devoutly clasped.
The first layer of “study”refers to emulation, that is, the American emigrants as emulator readily learn from the European genteel culture. Mrs. Walker, together with other American ladies, came to reside in Europe partly for “study”, i.e., to emulate the decent behaviors and learn more social norms of the genteel so as to upgrade their cultivation as high as possible. Detected from words like “specimens”and “text-books”, Mrs.Walker undoubtedly can be called as a “studious”emulator with an overt learning desire, from which, to some extent, a mild satire of James might be peered.
This sense of satire is dramatically strengthened when, Mrs. Walker urged Daisy to come into her carriage on her consideration that Daisy was dissolute to walk on the street with two unmarried men. She repeatedly warned her that it was “not the custom here”and that she would “be talked about”. Considering her original American identity, Mrs. Walker in this sense is completely assimilated, subject to the stiff European social norms, even inversely turning her weapon around and strikes as if she was a native defender. The very transition of Mrs. Walker from an “étranger”to a rigid Europeanized American exposes the mindset of some expatriates that when in Rome one should readily and strictly do as Romans do. To that extent, “study”suggests a somehow blind emulation to European customs.
B. Study 2: Examination of Winterbourne in his dual identity
The second layer of “study”is the examination of Winterbourne nurtured by his double identity of European-American and superior male, which, turns out to compose his own tragedy as well. With a perspective largely Europeanized, Winterbourne looks like a bystander who takes pains at deciding whether or not his examinee, Daisy, is completely unsophisticated, leaving the figure of her pendulous between a crudely innocent maiden and a designing coquette, on the one hand; on the other, he also plays a role as a powerful male,of condescension perhaps even with no notice by himself, who casts an examining gaze at the behaviors of the female upon a slant libra as a zoologist studies a guinea pig. Furthermore, that he fails to offer a relatively objective and equitable sketch of Daisy also suggests his tragic inability to save himself from the shackle of norms, in either sense above.
a. Winterbourne’s examination with an American-European identity
1. She turned her back straight upon Miss Miller and left her to depart with what grace
she might. Winterbourne wasstanding near the door; he saw it all.
To elaborate, Winterbourne’s first identity as an American-European portrays the character of Daisy highly ambiguous and obscure, which, meanwhile places himself at the stance of a distanced onlooker. Being the eyes of the narrator, Winterbourneis the only American character in the story who possesses a blended mindset of both Europe and America because of his education in Geneva. With the unique identity, this observer is trapped in a capricious pendulum and constant contemplation towards if Daisy is innocent or not, whose limited perspective directly bewilders the readersto differentiatehis own opinion of her from aobjectively true figure ofDaisy. If designed as a purely American or a purely European, the attitude of Winterbourne would immediately get decisive and clear, but that would not be the Jamesian style in the least. The very arrangement of placing him at such an awkward status, the middle or intermediate of the two cultures, makes his point of view blow hot and cold, as if he is distanced, as an outsider, confusedly yet conscientiously, standing by side, observing and trying his best to paint the portrait of the young lady and behind her the cultural clash right happened in front of him. Indeed, such a role of bystander can be witnessed in one typical scenario, where Daisy was humiliated by Mrs. Walker on the dinner party, and meanwhile, Winterbourne was only “standing near the door”, neither going forwards to offer some help, nor consoling Daisy of “a pale, grave face”thereafter. All his did is observation, and that is all.
b. Winterbourne’s examination with a superior male identity
1. A report that he is “studying” hard—an intimation that he is much interested in a very cleverforeign lady.
2. He had a great relishfor feminine beauty; he was addicted to observing and analyzingit; and as regards this young lady's face he made several observations.
Another important identity, Winterbourne as a superior male, adds his examination with a feature of gender power asymmetry. In Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, examination, or gaze, is considered an apparatus of power revealing a power relation between the gazer and the gazed. Accordingly, a male examining gaze in effect reflects an inequality that consciously or unconsciously, the male positions himself at a superior location and “condescends”to comment and judge the female with their standards. So it is with the situation of Daisy, whom Winterbourne shows great relish with on her eye contact, her gestures, her smile, and her uncommon actions of sorts. Indeed, in the novel that Winterbourne being said “studying”a foreign lady appears twice must not be a coincidence. On the contrary, it implicitly if not explicitly suggests that as a male Winterbourne has a long-time hobby of doing it, i.e., as a masculine examiner to judge and evaluate the every movement of the inferior women, either the foreign lady or Daisy. Female, under this circumstance, is antecedently belittled to a depersonalized subject yet of high study value. Overall, by applying the view of superior male, Winterbourne’s character is thus complexified: he might have been conscientiously confused of and mutely sympathized for Daisy; however, he is in fact multisided, deep in whose bone he is a male, upon the female he genetically pouring his intrinsic scorn.
c. Failed examination as a tragedy of Winterbourne himself
1. Winterbourne stopped, with a sort of horror; and, it must be added, with a sort of relief. It was as if a sudden illumination had been ashed upon the ambiguity of Daisy’s behavior and the riddle had become easy to read.
2. Nevertheless, he went back to live at Geneva, whence there continue to come the most contradictory accounts of his motives of sojourn: a report that he is “studying”hard—an intimation that he is much interested in a very clever foreign lady.
Winterbourne’s failure to examine Daisy is considered a tragedy of his own, in that he is incapable to balance the freedom and the laws as well as to jump out of the unequal gender binarization.
The very incapability to balance can be seen in his nocturnal encounter with Daisy and Giovanelli (the excerpts above). Having witnessed their night rendezvous, Winterbourne finally affirms that Mrs. Costello is right: Daisy is an American flirt who needs no longer respect. His unprecedented “relief”, after the affirmation, declares the tragedy of his own—inside him, his society-imbued reservedness has defeated the free will in the final showdown.
The incapability to get rid of gender binarization lies in that Winterbourne starts his story from the pursuit of a foreign lady, and also ends with it. In this sense, his encounter with Daisy, from his point of view, is no more than a brief interlude that may have little influence on his subsequent actions. Hence, it is safe to conclude that he is in a state of constancy while the female are changing in fluidity, to which extent, a sense of given gender binarization is manifested that male and female are socially binary, with one superior than another, one is the gazer and the other the gazed; and that the female are objectified as mere guinea pigs, who come and go in a flow for selection and are of great interests to study upon.
Study 3: Experiment of Henry James, the author and researcher
The third layer of “study”refers to an experiment by Henry James, a fictional research onthe practicability for a coexistence between the manners of restraint and those of freedomwithout apparent impartiality towards each side.
During the process, he places Daisy, an willful and innocent American girl, at the ancient European continent, then adds an observer Winterbourne, a defender Mrs. Walker, an excluder Mrs. Costello, etc., to observes and records their “chemical”reactions; finally, he sprinkles a malady to terminate the subject, indicative of a negative conclusion on the topic. Among the experimental elements above, the malaria Roman fever, is worth mentioning in that it symbolizes the terminative social mores which would overwhelm any factor of disharmony. Its murder on Daisy is surprising yet reasonable: with an overt naiveté and dangerously openness such a girl long fails to integrate, corresponding to which, a doomed death is thus designed as the appropriately heavy price of her willful resistance.
Viewing from the overall experiment, it is in fact difficult to infer which cultural style James expresses his preference to, since, in the novel the narrator gives his full approval neither to the manners of restraint nor to those of freedom. On the one side, he looks preferable with the European society in its culture, education, and the art of conversation, but at the same time he discloses the worldliness and cynicism of it based, necessarily, on hypocrisy. On the other, he appears fascinated by the innocence of the American national character in its earnestness rather than artifice, but meanwhile he sentences it to death as an implication that his compatriots are somehow boorish, uncultivated, and unaware of a centuries-old world outside their own new dominions. Hence, it is plausible to claim that James was neither a chauvinist nor an indignantexpatriate; rather, he can be seen as an impartial researcher, an outside cosmopolitan, devoted to exploring the American styletested by cultural displacement.
Study 4: Exemplar, Daisy, of cultural encounter and gender asymmetry
Last but not least, the fourth layer means an exemplar, one of the literal meanings of the word “study”. It refers to Daisy partly in her cultural identity that she is a representative of American who are innocent yet ignorant and fail to fit in the cultural displacement; she is a representative partly in her gender identity, on the other hand, a female victim who is suffocated under social gender restrictions that the novella implicitly if not explicitly suggests.
a. Exemplar of a martyr under cultural clash
Last but not least, the fourth layer means an exemplar, one of the literal meanings of the word “study”. It refers to Daisy partly in that she is a representative of American who are innocent yet ignorant and fail to fit in the cultural displacement. Her unrestrained and dissolute deeds were widely gossiped, which, according to Mrs. Walker’s point of view, would upend the very foundationof their society. Indeed, as the name “Daisy”suggests, Daisy is vigorous, and perhaps too vigorous to grow in a winter-like ancient land manifested in the name of Winterbourne. Her American national character is magnified by James to a rare and extravagant enthusiasm, in which way the chemical reaction between her freedom and the laws is testified more intensive and electrifying. Thus, her clash with those around her is ultimately unsustainable: she is inevitably martyred, which can be considered both a pity and sympathy for the vanishing beauty and a warning against the hazard of a sheer frankness and naiveté in the American mode.
b. Exemplar of a female victim under gender asymmetry
In addition to martyr, Daisy is also a representative of female victim under social gender norms that the novella implicitly if not explicitly suggests. While Winterbourne is free to act without condemnation, Daisy, on the contrary, has no choice but to undertake strain of sandal and social mores. One typical scenario, that Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Costello, and others grow so shocked at Daisy’s desire to walk alone unaccompanied by a chaperone—underlines the restrictions on women at the time. Far more than that, in the novella almost every criteria that Daisy rebels against is one related with gender restrictions: women’s behavior is “improper”if they do not wear a hat when go outside, if have a tour solely with an unmarried gentleman, if behave too outgoing instead of reserved and quite. To that extent, the very malaria that took the life of Daisy manifests no longer social norms in any general sense, but more precisely the norms against women the specific group that inhibit their breath to an ultimate fading. Hence, it can be concluded that Daisy’s representativeness lies not only in the martyr with respect to her cultural identity, but in her sacrifice with her gender identity very much alike.
Conclusion:
In general, the subtitle “A Study”, in the discussion, includes two subjects, the studier and the studied, as well as refer to four possible explanations—they vary from the emulation of the Europeanized Americans, to the examination of the hero Winterbourne under his double identity, to the experiment of the author’s international theme, then to the exemplification, Daisy, who is a representative of both the American national mode and the female. The four layers are interrelated and to some extent overlapped, yet all of which converge into a cosmopolitan research field created by Henry James, that is, the fictional testification and verdict of the cultural encounter and displacement. Besides, one thing deserves mentioning is that a kind of gender asymmetry is detectable in the novella alike.
