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Cultural Differences
Daisy MillerI am glad that I do not live in 19th century Europe! In “Daisy Miller”, Henry James illustrates the strict and judgmental guidelines and stereotypes that drive the social life of that setting. While reading about situations that existed a hundred and twenty years ago, it is easy to dismiss the themes as irrelevant to modern life. But through their travels, Winterbourne and Daisy Miller’s relationship manages to illustrate much about travel that is still true today. In the reading we see that each of the cities highlighted offer very different standards for behavior. The culture of Geneva comes off as having very strict expectations of the upper class, while people in Vevey are less judgmental, and finally Rome shows people willing to gossip amongst themselves whenever girls behave immodestly in any way. While I’m sure these specific cities and their stereotypes have changed much over time, travel today will illustrate similarities with the past. Different places around the world, and the people who live in those places have different expectations and standards. This is something important to pay attention to when traveling, and can illustrate a lot about a country.
should we not?
"I always believed it was the things you don't choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family--casey affleck's character in "Gone Baby Gone"
I just happen to like that movie, but the quote helps me say something-i have sympathy for the millers, how everyone gives them a rough time because they can't seem to fit into another mold. There not from these super-tight and high-barriered, repressive societies; i can see why they would thing that such stringent etiquette is a waste of energy. What bothers me though is their recklessness and disrespect for the sanctity of a different place. We should be allowed to see it in our own way, with our own eyes, but these places aren't petting zoo's or freak shows: people live there. It's not fair to come to a place and treat it like its our own. A place has its own separate identity that must be taken into account, its own understanding that we only get if we play by the rules. But like Samuel L Jackson said in that movie whose name i forgot: "there are always consequences."
Should we conform?
As travelers, don't we have the right to act differently than is presumed "appropriate" in another country? Not saying that we should go make fools of ourselves, but I am saying that traveling should be experienced through its rawest and most natural form. Which would consist of carrying on like we would in our own home country while exploring the aspects of other cultures. There's no need to conform to the status quo of another country. You will perceive your surroundings through their eyes, and not your own.