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Reputations
Daisy Miller
What is a reputation? A reputation is a set of preconceived ideas that precede a person. Whether ones reputation is negative or positive, can they ever be accurate depictions of the people we truly are?
The charming novella, Daisy Miller, gives us an insight into the reputations that follow foreign travelers as they venture abroad. The title character in this story, Miss Daisy Miller, is supposed to represent a typical young American girl. Perhaps this description is the fundamental problem in maintaining an open mind. Is there actually a typical American girl? No. Every individual is different in some way or another. There are so many images, whether they are true or false, out there in the media that are supposed to represent a “typical person”. By reading into these we create unnecessary reputations for people we have never even met.
The other women who are living abroad, especially Mrs. Walker, fear that Daisy’s actions and flirtatious tendencies will forever tarnish the American reputation in foreign nations. This idea is nearly impossible to ever materialize. There is no way that the few encounters that Daisy had in Italy will make every Italian believe all Americans are just like her. The women are so consumed with being perceived in a certain way that they don’t even stop to think of the logical nature of their thoughts. They are so obsessed with emitting a certain persona to the new people they meet that they have lost their own distinct identities. I think that when traveling to a foreign place, it is important to maintain an open mind about each of the persons we encounter. It is not fair to stereotype an entire population simply because one of their own acts in a certain manner.
In today’s society, it is so easy to lump together an entire group of people and believe that they all act in the same way. This is a dangerous thing because it can have one of two consequences. It could allow people with bad motives to be overlooked and therefore not stopped in their pursuits. Or, it could force good people to be constantly looked at with the underlying idea that they are plotting something bad. Either of these results is not positive in creating a more accepting and diverse world.
In terms of travel, stereotyping is ever present. Many nations have a bad outlook towards the American public because of the ideas that are engrained in their minds by a variety of outlets. Some people hold these views without ever having had a first hand encounter with an American. Although, I cannot say that these ideas are completely false, it is not fair to judge one person based on their nation as a whole. Just like many travelers today, Daisy Miller was living in Europe to enhance her own repertoire and perhaps have some fun along the way. It was not up to her to alter the Italians views of all American people, rather it is up to the natives she encounters to keep an open mind about her as an individual as well as a young American girl.
I completely agree with your
I completely agree with your last paragraph. So many misconceptions are present when we travel. Who doesn't want to date the "fiery-blooded" Italian guy? Why is the French accent so sexy? And always do as the locals do, of course. And yes, we cannot exclude from someone's identity their nationality or background, but we should look for and, more imporantly, expect more than just these things.
Stereotyping
The irony that is to be found in Daisy Miller is that the title character is far from what one would consider the stereotypical American girl of the nineteenth century, by any standards. The Swiss and Italians must have known upon meeting her that she was outlandish and uncultured. The foreigners were intelligent enough to forgo stereotyping Daisy as “typical” and her fellow Americans were quick to let it be known that her behavior was atypical.
Interestingly enough, Americans had a much more respected status in the international community in the time of James’s novel than we do today. At the time, the United States was emerging as an important world power and foreigners had fewer reasons to distrust Americans then than they do today. The image of the vulgar American tourist is a product of the twentieth century. In the time of Daisy Miller, foreigners would most likely have looked down upon her as an individual, but reserved their judgment of our nation as a whole for a more “typical” representative. One silly girl can't possibly tarnish the reputation of an entire civilization.