earticle

영어

This paper aims to study Henry James’s view on social relation as exemplified in Daisy Miller, and to examine the process by which Daisy fails in building relationships with the people around her. In this work, James shows that an individual can develop the self through social relation, not through Emersonian asocial self-reliance. James reveals human beings’ inherent desire for intimacy through Daisy. Daisy wants to have intimate relationships with other people, particularly Winterbourne whom she loves. However, her desire for intimacy is frustrated by the instrumental perspective on human relationship represented by Mrs. Costello and Winterbourne in this work. Other than the instrumental perspective on human relationship, Daisy’s own idealistic attitude keeps her from building relationships. Daisy, who represents the idealism of Emerson in this work, refuses to accept the conventional culture of the European high society, which makes her to be an outcast. As a whole, this work demonstrates that James rejected the asocial vision of Emerson and claimed for the assimilation of human relationships.