SOURCE: "'Daisy Miller': A Reader's Choice," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 17, No. 3, Summer, 1980, pp. 275-83.

In the following essay, Kirk argues that James's narrative strategy in Daisy Miller is designed to promote alternate and even contradictory interpretations of characters and themes in the novel.

Any overview of the past century's critical responses to Daisy Miller reveals a radical shift in readers' sympathies with its characters. The genteel American audience of James's day was outraged and insulted by Daisy's liberated behavior, but modern sensibilities identify Winterbourne as the principal offender against human decency. They accuse him of being everything from an emotional cripple to an unfeeling criminal, and now count Daisy as his almost innocent victim.

This change of allegiance can be explained, of course, by a shift in cultural attitudes towards women and manners in general, and by the increased perceptiveness of modern interpreters. But the present...