The Tourist as Authentic

A reoccurring theme in travel is that of authenticity. People going abroad do not wish to be perceived as “Daisy Miller” types, innocent and ignorant Americans. Instead, the overall goal is to have an authentic journey with authentic experiences in authentic places. With such a focus on the word itself, the search for the goal can become more important than its achievement. Erik Cohen has defined several levels of tourism beginning at the first, or recreational level, to the fifth, or existential level (Cohen, 183). The generally accepted way of thinking is that one should strive for the highest level of travel, because in it lays the most authentic experience. It is the reason for which people wish to be seen as “travelers” and not “tourists”, they believe that one is more genuine than the other. This thinking, however, is flawed and too simplistic. This can be seen by taking the examples of Daisy Miller, from Daisy Miller by Henry James, and Port, Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. These two important characters are polar opposites of one another. Yet we can observe that while Port reaches a higher level of travel, this does not make his experience any more authentic than that of Daisy. The achievement of authenticity in travel is not necessarily directly proportional to ones “status” as a traveler or tourist.

In order to debate the concept of authenticity in regards to travel, it must be defined in terms of this essay. The simplest definition of it is that it is something real and original. In this way an original painting would be authentic, and a forgery would not be. Although this essay concentrates on the authenticity of an experience, which is less concrete than a painting, the definition can remain the same. An authentic experience would therefore be a genuine experience, or one that is not forced or forged. Generally it is the authentic travel experience that those going abroad seek to achieve, and in doing so try to avoid becoming a “Daisy Miller Type”.

According to Erik Cohen’s categories, Daisy Miller falls into the realm of “recreational tourist”. Cohen defines this type of tourism as: “a form of entertainment akin in nature to other forms of entertainment such as the cinema, theatre, or television” (Cohen, 183). Daisy does not give the impression of being out of touch from her centre. While not much information is provided about her life at home, she has clearly not left America out of discontent. Cohen’s article deals with those who are leaving a centre of their own accord, and from this angle, Daisy Miller does not fit into any of his categories. Yet because no other reason for Daisy’s presence in Europe is presented, the reader can assume that it is for pleasure.

It is in fact, Daisy’s status as a recreational tourist that allows her to have a completely authentic travel experience. Daisy travels around a world of high society, which one could call conceited. Certainly Mrs. Walker cares a great amount about how she and those surrounding her are seen when she tells Winterbourne not to help Daisy “make a scandal” (James, 43). Arguably, Daisy is the only authentic character in this world of high society, because she does not claim to be anything other than who she is. She has been taken on a journey to Europe as a vacation, and is spending her time satiating her appetite for the romantic. She visits the coliseum at nighttime because she wishes to see it by moonlight and have a good time. In this way, she is doing exactly what she claims to be doing, vacationing. In the meantime the other characters are worrying about scandal and image. They are preoccupied with how they are being judged, and therefore cannot be very authentic people. Their travel experience is reduced to pretending and trying to fit into high society by any means possible. They project an image that is not real, and therefore do not have an authentic experience. One cannot achieve anything real if they themselves are hiding behind a mask to fit in. By not caring and obeying no rules but her own, Daisy does the opposite of those around her, and does not force anything about her travel. She is completely authentic.

In The Sheltering Sky, Port is a different kind of tourist. While his exact level on Cohen’s scale can be debated, he is at least an “Experiential Tourist” or one who “[looks] for meaning in the life of others” (Cohen, 186). Port is disillusioned with his own milieu, and his relationship with Kit is not working out. They have traveled together many times before, and Port, at least, does not seem to want to stop this anytime soon. He does at least observe foreign cultures, and look for meaning in them, such as when he visits the woman in her tent (Bowles, 31-32). He laments the effect of the war on the old civilization of the desert, and at the same time is disdainful and wary of natives (Bowles, 15). This seems at least slightly hypocritical. How is one able to find meaning or even diversion in the lives of others if one does not trust them? It is not possible to observe a culture and get something out of it if you do not believe the people composing the culture are genuine. Also, Port seems to look down on the other tourists around him, and seeks to be looked at as a “traveler” and not a “tourist” (Bowles, 6). He perhaps goes out of his way to avoid being called a tourist, and keeps away from those who are, such as the Lyles.

In searching to not be called a tourist, Port is not achieving an authentic experience. He is spending his time in the westernized areas of the towns, and being waited on, distancing himself, consciously or unconsciously, from the authentic society of the desert. Yet if one wishes to find meaning in a culture, one has to at least observe it in its authentic state. Another piece of evidence that Port’s experience is not authentic lies in his distrust of the natives. We have already seen how he distrusts the natives and yet laments the death of their culture. In his hypocrisy he is being inauthentic, he is trying to forge nostalgia for a culture that he doesn’t fully comprehend or seem to wish to. He states that the war has westernized the world, and then complains about the lodgings being primitive. His attempt to create a journey and opinion for himself that he can look at as authentic travel and not tourism, prevent him from actually achieving authenticity.

It is a general opinion in most people who travel, of which Port is an example, that it is better to be a “traveler” than a “tourist”. They seek to have authentic travel experiences when they go abroad. They wish for others to look at them and observe that these people had more than a recreational reason to go abroad, and in going abroad they found something spiritual, or meaningful. People want to be able to call their experience “authentic”. Yet as it has been shown through Daisy Miller and The Sheltering Sky, to be a recreational tourist, is not necessarily to be something inauthentic. Sometimes it is the search for authenticity itself that prevents its achievement. Daisy Miller did not wish to do anything but have fun, and divert herself from her normal life. She was not in Europe to find reason for living or to figure out any deep seeded issues in her life. Yet she managed to live up to her experience in every way that she claimed to, and did not try to forge any experience. Port on the other hand was looking for meaning, or at least to forget about problems at home, in his travel. In trying to be perceived as a traveler and yet being too snobbish to immerse himself fully in the culture around him, Port is not having a fully authentic experience. He may be more traveled than Daisy, but he is hypocritical in his travel. In this way the authenticity or genuineness of ones journey abroad cannot always be measured in relation to ones level on Cohen’s scale of tourism. One can have different reasons for traveling, but more than that is required in order to achieve ones goals and have the experiences they set out for.