The “Kill Daisy Miller” Conspiracy

(or “When You Eliminate Everything Else, What Remains is to Kill Daisy Miller”)

Daisy Miller has a rather rushed ending for a novella; Daisy’s sudden sickness and resulting death come all within the last few pages. I think that the last time I read Daisy Miller, the professor said that Henry James often had plots that take a sudden, unexpected turn for the worst. It may just go hand and hand with his other tropes. (I would also like to attest that, after reading the plot summary of one of James’s longer novels, this seems to be prevailingly true. Good thing we aren’t characters in his books.)

Then we have to wonder: if Daisy Miller had lived, what would she be doing in her future?

On one hand, Daisy could have done something rather scandalous and is then metaphorically chased out of European society. It seemed that the novella was heading in that direction already. So why not follow through? I think that the final perception of Europeans and Americans would be different. Europeans would appear very exclusive and maybe even childish for not handling things like a “proper adult.” We would also get mixed messages about what it means to be an American. Are we just beyond hope of reforming into “proper” society? Or maybe only a select few can enter? Overall, this ending seems rather hard on both cases.

How about an ending that had hope for Daisy joining into European society? This instantly brings into mind people chanting “One of us! One of us!” Daisy would no longer be unique. She would have had a period of rebellion, but then she would be tamed and ascend into European culture and society just like most of the characters. Then the novel would just be saying that Americans aren’t very cultured and they all need to ascend and lose their American wildness.

Both of these possible endings for Daisy accomplish, to some degree, what James is already showing us. But they both seem rather dull. Either Daisy conforms or not. Americans are apparently crass, and European society is still a pinnacle that one must reach because we all know Europeans are full of culture. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

This may have been a case where James just didn’t know what to do with Daisy. To be fair to him, the ending he does have technically works. We don’t know what Daisy’s potential was, and we are left at the height of trying to figure out American versus European debate. It sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the work, but it may be the best option of those that James had.