Reflection on Daisy Miller

Liane Cartagena Daisy Miller and Winterbourne first meet in Vevey, Switzerland, where he is vacationing from his studies. They are introduced by young Randolph Miller, Daisy's brother. Randolph considers his hometown of Schenectady, New York to be superior to all of Europe, especially for the quality of candies. Daisy, however, is absolutely delighted with the continent, especially the high society which she wishes to enter. Winterbourne is at first confused by her attitude, but soon determines that she is nothing more than a young American flirt. He continues his pursuit of Daisy in spite of the disapproval of his authoritarian and snobbish aunt Mrs. Costello, who rejects any family with such a close a relationship to their courier as the Millers have with their Eugenio. She also thinks Daisy is a shameless girl for agreeing to visit the town with Winterbourne after a mere half hour together. Winterbourne informs Daisy that he must go to Geneva the next day. Daisy extracts a promise from him to meet her in Rome and they part. In Rome, Winterbourne and Daisy meet unexpectedly in the parlor of Mrs. Walker, a fellow American. Daisy is undeterred by the open disapprobation of the other Americans in Rome, and her ineffectual mother seems quite unaware of the underlying tensions. Winterbourne attempts to release Daisy from her situation, but she refuses to take any of it seriously. One night, Winterbourne takes a walk through the Coliseum and, at its center, sees Giovanelli standing in front of Daisy. Winterbourne tells himself that Daisy is too common for him to love. He warns her about the danger of “Roman Fever” her health, and she rushes home, although protesting that she doesn't care. Daisy falls ill, and dies a few days later. The feelings Winterbourne and his aunt have for Daisy is very superficial. Instead of being a little open minded and welcoming to Americans they were fast to judge her and undermine her. I feel that you should always welcome people no matter how different they might abide by ones rules. Mrs. Costello and Mrs. Walker were quick on judging Daisy for her actions but never once went and gave her a chance to engage in conversation with her. On top of this they were so closed minded that they never thought culture in the United States is different and might be the reason she acts the way she does. Daisy on the other hand is careless to judge and is just a nice young lady on vacation trying to get the best out of the European life enjoying every person who stands in her way. One thing that made her a little closed minded was the fact that she chose not to change her ways thinking that it was okay to to act the way she did with men. If she would have listened to Winterbourne maybe a little she could have mildly corrected her actions still keeping true to herself. Even though I do not find much harm in Daisy’s actions I am open minded enough to see that not everyone can be as engaging as Daisy was because people get the wrong message and are quick to judge upon ones character. I feel that because of miscommunication and both internal and external conflicts not being communicated within the characters ( Daisy and Winterbourne) led to Daisy’s death and Winterbourne’s doubt on placing judgement over Daisy and eventually placed a halt toward the development of their relationship.

Reflection on Daisy Miller

Mariola says: Daisy Miller is one of my favorite characters because she acts like a free woman and does not care what people around her think. For her, cultural aspects and morals are not very important; the only thing important to her is her own thoughts and values. People around her see her as a bad influence and see her behavior as improper. The story ends in a tragic way with the death of Daisy Miller and I really think that this is not a good ending. Critics say that in the end she dyes because of her behavior but for me that is not a good explanation. Why do we need to die because of our behavior? That is not fare. She did what she think it was right and we have to remember that she is a young woman and that she is from another country and does not have the same values and morals as European people have. Although I did not like the ending, I think the novel is excellent it gives us a point of view that is different from normal thins we see in regular novels. One of the most interesting things in the novel is the cultural shock of American society and European society. We see how the character like Mrs. Costello and Mrs. Miller are not please with Daisy Miller and see her as inferior because of her attitudes and values. In the other hand we see Daisy who is the typical American girl who go on life with her values that she knows. After observing this kinds of behavior we can understand why the character act like they do. Another thing that make this novel interesting is the fact that it can make a lot of controversy because we do not know how the audience feel about the novel. Depending of our values and moral we are going to have different opinions about the novel. With this in mind I can say that I like a lot the novel and that it was very interesting although I did not like the ending of it.

A Walk To The Jetty - Christian Torres

Annie is a seventeen year-old girl that is on the verge of leaving to England, where she is to become a nurse. Going to England and becoming a nurse is not something that she really wants to do, but, she thinks that it's better than living with her parents any longer. She wishes to part from them (as many teenagers do). Even though her parents are not bad parents, she wants to part from them. On the way to the boat that will take her to Europe, she starts to reminisce about her childhood only to find that her indentity is basically made up from her parents identity. That idea helps her descicion to go and become a nurse even firmer. The thought of independence and finding and identity to call her own is empowering. At just minutes before boarding, she thinks that it may be a bad idea, and that she really will miss her parents. But after coming to an agreement with her senses, she realizes that leaving her parents y what she wants most and that even though it will be tough, it's something that she has to go throught for her own sake. Annie is able to leave her parents with no second thoughts. I think many teenagers could relate to this short story. Because doesn't go too far down the roots of the problems, I think it's easier for readers to put themselves in Annie's position. Independence is one of the reasons we go to college for and finding our own identity. Not everytime we need something as drastic as moving to another country but just being determined to find oneself could be enough to make it happen.

Columbus in Chains Reflection

Adrian Perez Columbus in Chains is a controversial story that makes you rethink about history and about Christopher Columbus himself. I personally never gave that much attention to Christopher Columbus because in school I was taught that he’s the one that discovered us and that’s it, but after discussing about him in class, it made me think about his purpose in discovering us. A lot of people think that he is a hero, but I don’t think he’s a hero. A hero is someone who looks out for others and is not selfish. Christopher Columbus is an important figure in history, but he’s no hero. He brought slavery and war to our land, and he didn’t think of us, he just wanted to do his job, which was to discover us. I think that the author thought that in a way he was a hero, but in another way he wasn’t. A.J. first thought that he deserved to be chained up and felt good about it, but then realized that he’s the one that discovered her land. This story inspires me to know more about our history and our past.

The Storm Reflection

Adrian Perez After reading this story, it shocked me how Calixta went on with her life after she just cheated on her husband, whom treats her very well. Calixta was alone and Alcee, her past lover, comes to her house because of the storm. The sexual passion that they demonstrated was very intense and maybe it’s because both of them don’t have that kind of passion with their respective spouses. For me, I don’t support cheating on your husband or wife, but maybe in this case is something that needed to happen. Maybe they needed closure from their past relationship and that’s why neither of them felt guilty. Society says that marriage is a sacred union and that that bond should never be disrespected, so that’s why I’m against Calixta’s actions. If she had problems with her husband they should have worked out. The Storm was an interesting story because it was full of strong emotions and it had an unexpected element that made the story have more character.

Writing is not a McDonald’s Hamburger

Adrian Perez When you write you are supposed to let everything go and not hold anything back. The author uses an example of a student that can talk about anything, but when he writes, he can’t transmit those emotions. In writing you have to let every emotion you have to take place in that writing and feel what you’re writing. After reading this I started to write because it reminded me of the journal that we use in class for free writing and we are supposed to let everything go and write everything that’s in our thoughts. I started to write whatever I was feeling without holding back anything. It was a very calm experience. I wrote whatever popped in my head and it felt good while doing it because I forgot all of my worries.

A Walk to the Jetty Reflection

Adrian Perez This story is about finding yourself. Annie decided to leave her home and go to England and become a nurse. As she goes to take the ship to England, she has all these memories that she remembers that include her parents and her childhood and she doesn’t want to continue that path in her life where she is dominated by her parents and so she wants to gain independence and find herself by leaving. I think this is a good story because it teaches us to take a stand and choose what we want to do in the future. I think everyone can relate to this story because everyone at some point in their lives has to leave the nest and become independent and go through that journey that helps us find ourselves.