Daisy Miller: Catalyst for Roaring Twenties

Daisy Miller is a short, 43 page novella which was written by Henry James, and published by Harper  Its first appearance was in the Cornhill Magazine in the summer of 1878. The main characters of this novel are Daisy Miller, an incredibly gorgeous American girl, and Winterbourne: her lover. This book gained fame incredibly fast, but a lot of it was notoriety. This small novella caused a great outrage in the late 19th century because of new ideas. Many Americans disliked the novella at first because of the appearance of Daisy. The short story portrays her as a very flirtatious young girl and her being disliked by society for that reason. Many thought that the way she was depicted was posing a bad influence on many young girls of the 19th centrury, since being so coquiettish and vulgar as Daisy was considered to be scandalizing. This novella is a great example of a clash between older and newer generations, which never goes without scandals. This novel could be compared to modern day sex-ed. Many parents don’t like it and don’t want their children attending it because they weren’t taught the subject at a young age and feel as if it isn’t appropriate. The same was for Daisy Miller: she was the young American girl who constantly hung around boys and was frowned upon by society. Being excessively flirtatious at such a “young” age was considered immoral in the 19th century, and was probably thought of much worse by the older generations born in the late 18th. Just like sex-ed is considered wrong and provocative by many parents in the 21st century, Daisy Miller was thought of as wrong and appaling to the folks of the 19th. Henry James’ novel became a hit, and was probably a catalyst for rebellious movements by women against society such as the “flapper” era of the 1920’s.