Daisy Miller Finding Personal Identity as an Ugly American - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1085 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/18 Category Psychology Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Daisy Miller: Finding Personal Identity as an Ugly American Psychology 112 Vampire Academy for Phlebotomy and Psychology Dracula Smith September 20, 2010 Daisy Miller is forced to address her personal identity in the book because she is only able to identify with being American by putting down others she meets. By today’s standards, Daisy would be considered â€Å"fake† or disingenuous. For example, Daisy’s own family tells her secrets and hands out her real intentions to deceive others. Her brother tells Winterbourne that Daisy Miller â€Å"isn’t her real name; that isn’t her name on her cards†¦. Her real name is Annie P. Miller† (Page by Page Books, 2010, p. 2). Winterbourne is of course surprised by each revelation about Daisy, but is quick to put Daisy into the broad category of â€Å"American flirt† and decides that â€Å"this young girl was not a coquette in that sense; she was very unsophisticated; she was only a pretty American flirt† (Page by Page Books, 2010, p. 6). The foreigners or even expatriates Daisy meets are in the same category of people who (to her own mind) do not rise to this arbitrary standard she has made for herself and others she meets in Europe. She is only interested in talking about herself, and is arrogant, though considered to be charming, with the people she meets. For example, she is condescending to Winterbourne when she first meets him. She asks him if he is German, and tells him that she wonders if he is a â€Å"real American† (Page by Page Books, 2010). She tells him that she is from New York State and asks him â€Å"if you know where that is† (Page by Page Books, 2010, p. 1), which presupposes that he is not intelligent to know about the basic geography of the United States. To Winterbourne, Daisy moves between being unsophisticated and worldly, but in Daisy’s own eyes, she personally identifies herself with an aristocrat amon g barbarians. Daisy is in the development stage of finding her personal identity, and identifying with those around her by a type of ego pathology. As a child, or in her case a young woman, Daisy has several opportunities to identify herself, â€Å"with real or fictitious people of either sex, with habits, traits, occupations, and ideas† (Erikson, 1980, p. 25). Erikson states that the child will be forced to make selections as to who to dentify with based on events in the child’s life. He adds that the historical era that the child lives in will offer limited numbers of â€Å"socially meaningful models for workable combinations of identification fragments† (Erikson, 1980, p. 25). The usefulness of which will depend on how the person can square with the stage of maturity and the development of the person’s ego. A person’s personal identity is based on two factors: the immediate perception of the fact that there is a â€Å"selfsameness and continuit y in time† and the fact that other people recognize a person’s sameness and continuity in general (Erikson, 1980, p. 2). Erikson believed that ego identity went beyond merely existing, it was determined by the development of a personal identity and it meshed with the ego identity in several respects. The ego identity was the awareness of the way that others saw the person, and how the person identified with others. In the story, other people do not see Daisy in the same light she sees herself. For example, Mrs. Costello, who is Winterbourne’s aunt, refers to Daisy as a â€Å"dreadful girl† (Page by Page Books, 2010, p. 9), and she considers her common, which is not a compliment. Even when it is clear that Winterbourne begins to fancy Daisy, Mrs. Costello discourages the union at every turn. This is because Daisy does not have the highly respected position among society goers as she assumes she does (because of her family ties). They are known to be comm on folk, because they assume their ways and manners are best. Hers is not a family who would follow the old saying, â€Å"when in Rome, do as the Romans do. † They would rather put down the cherished customs of others, rather than learn from other cultures and enjoy the differences and diversity of new people in Europe. Winterbourne sees Daisy as inexperienced, and assumes she will learn to be more of a cultured young woman by being in Europe. He assumes wrongly that the culture of the local area will rub off on Daisy, since she is not interested in changing her ways. She is either uncaring, ignorant of European social customs, or plainly does not care to follow them, even at the expense of her own personal reputation. Even as Daisy becomes more intimate in a relationship (albeit a â€Å"fling†) with Mr. Giovanelli, Winterbourne is torn as to whether she knows what she is doing and doesn’t care about the result, or is unaware of the picture her scandalous actions are painting for society members who are judging her on her actions. Even at the end of her life, it becomes important to Daisy that she have the high regard of Winterbourne’s affections, but for him that request may have come too late. He lost respect for her and was able to understand her intentions, but was unable to forget the picture of her as just another ignorant American in Europe. Winterbourne knows that Daisy would have wanted his ultimate respect and admiration. In the end, Daisy craved respect from the same people she looked down on, and found that she could not identify with on any level. It is difficult to believe that if Daisy were a real person that she would have been happy with the final result of her life. As a character in the book, she is easy to misunderstand. Daisy acted the way she did in the story because she lacked role models to show her another way to act. Unfortunately, in the story, she became more of the epitome of an ignorant Amer ican who saw no value in the culture of European people, but sought to have them look up to her and respect her for being American nevertheless. Reference James, Henry, (1878). Daisy Miller, Retrieved from https://www. pagebypagebooks. com/Henry_James/Daisy_Miller/ Erikson, Erik H. , (1980). Identity and the Life Cycle, Retrieved from https://books. google. com/books? hl=enlr=id=lRJRXvx64ZgCoi=fndpg=PA7dq=erickson%27s+american+identityots=SbSP97S0CRsig=LfX3jeTqt0PoSrk855qfJBu3fKI#v=onepageqf=false Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Daisy Miller: Finding Personal Identity as an Ugly American" essay for you Create order

The Movie Billy Wilkerson - 1995 Words

The drive to be included leads men to and the subsequent affect of not being included has a lasting ripple effect, that spans through time. The affects can be felt. The allure of hollywood attracts all sorts of people that are desperate to be included. Not just actors, not just studio heads, agents or writers, sometimes hollywood attracts gangsters, and politicians. People will go to great lengths to be close to the stars of Hollywood. It drives some people insane. That drive for fame and power leaves a lasting impression on the landscape and on lives for decades. William ‘Billy’ Wilkerson is one such person. His desire to be somebody was so great that his efforts shaped the physical landscape, the social landscape, and the political landscape far beyond his lifetime. Yet his ambitions and accomplishments added up to failures and bitterness, that left his quest for inclusion into the inner circle of the Hollywood elite, little more than a footnote in the history books. Billy is all but forgotten. Billy, was born in Nashville Tennessee in 1890. As a young adult he studied the priest hood, and then medicine at college in Philadelphia. Before he could finish his formal education his father died. Leaving his family in debt. Billy left college and to support his family began to manage speak-easies in New York City. He also spent sometime working at a newspaper and running a movie theater. When Billy moved his family to Hollywood in 1930 he would make good use of his shortShow MoreRelatedOn The Evening Of December 26, 1946, It Seemed That Benjamin1163 Words   |  5 Pagesbar-lounge beside rows of slot machines. People had to struggle through the crowd in the casino. Durante and Cugat put on a show that drew cheers from the wall-to-wall audience. News columnists gushingly compared the interior to Walt Disney and MGM movie sets. Lots of $100-chip action crossed the gaming tables. â€Å"You never saw so many black chip gamblers in your life,† Siegel’s lawyer, Lou We iner, later remarked. postcards_17But Siegel’s luck declined steadily over the course of the Flamingo’s subsequent

Unmistakably Racist Free Essays

Miami is a state of America and so thus Michigan. These two states are both progressive like any other states in America. But when one tackles about the racism that is happening in those two states, there are some things that are surprisingly odd. We will write a custom essay sample on Unmistakably Racist or any similar topic only for you Order Now After reading the article written by William Booth entitled â€Å"A White Migration North from Miami,† I easily got the gist of the article which says â€Å"There is a racism that is happening in Miami.† And from that very point of the fact that racism is present there, Michigan is no doubt a good comparison with that of Miami. On my own understanding of racism, I define it as a discrimination of a superior race over the inferior ones. In the article of Booth, he cited many instances wherein the Americans feel that they are being discriminated because of the fact that their population is clearly a minority in the state. It seems that wherever they go, even in malls, food chains or government institutions, the people are Spanish speakers. They really feel that the place is not theirs anymore because of the massive invasion of the Spanish speaking people. To make the racism clear enough, I want to conclude from what Booth says in the article, that whoever holds the most population, they are the ones who are more likely rule the place just like what happened in Miami. It is true that there is a reverse racism in Miami. Americans usually think that they are the superior race. But in the case of Miami, Spanish speaking people become the superior class because of their increasing numbers. In Michigan, Americans still reign the seat of superior class. Tracing back the history, the White Americans were discriminating the Black Americans. One good example of it was the way the students were treated. According to Zbrozek of The Daily Michigan, blacks, unlike the whites, were not allowed to attend dance classes and to use swimming pools. He also said that blacks were also not enjoying the rights of white students to join political activities in school. The discrimination of whites towards the blacks is very evident. Nowadays, there was still some racism that is happening in Michigan but not that bad like before just like what   Monique Luse said because as what Isaac Curtis in the article written by Jeff Barr that a good man is no doubt a good man no matter what his color and race. And Black Americans have already proven their worth in the society. I think my point is now clear enough. Booth is right. The majority wins over the minority and in this case, it is not an exemption. Are you the one who is discriminating someone or the one who is being discriminated? If you are the racist one, have you ever wondered if discriminating people are good habit to do? What if you go to a place where you and your class are being discriminated because of the apparent fact that you are a minority group of people in that particular place? Do you think you will feel good? Come to think of it as early as now. You will never know what will be the twist of fate do unto you. Works Cited Booth, William. A White Migration North from Miami. The World is a Text. Sliverman , Jonathan. Rader, Dean. 9 November 1998. Washington Post Staff Writer.  Ã‚   28   June 2008. http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf-whiteflight.html Zbrozek, Chris. Confronting the racism in Michigan’s history. The Michigan Daily.11 April  Ã‚  Ã‚   2007. Barr, Jeff.   Society taught lessons of racism. Michigan News. 14 February 2008. Luse, Monique. Telephone Interview. 2 January 2002.    How to cite Unmistakably Racist, Papers