于Henry-James中篇小说作品Daisy-Miller中文化冲突的浅显解析.doc

Fight or Compromise -When American Innocence Encountering European Sophistication

Author : Xu Jing
Supervisor: Liang Yinghui

China Institute of Defense Science and Technology

2007-5-5

中国防卫科技学院
本科毕业论文（设计）开题报告

学生姓名
许静
学 号
03001105072
专 业
英语
年 级
2003级
论 文
题 目
Fight or Compromise—When American Innocence Encountering European Sophistication

本课题的研究现状
International theme is the typical theme of Henry James; the cultural clash represented in it has already gained tense attention from the academic field. The research on this topic is quite mature, and this thesis’s breakthrough is the analysis on the fight and compromise of the characters towards the clash, and the possible results come forth.
研究目的、意义
The research on the topic aims to dig out the embodiment of cultural clash in the novella Daisy Miller, so as to analyze people’s reaction towards the clash and the possible results come forth. In this way, it helps to better understand cultural clash and find the right way to react to cultural clash.
研究内容、研究方法
This thesis is written according to the novella Daisy Miller. With reference to the criticism made by the experts, it studies the cultural clash between Europe and America, at the same time analyzes the personality of the characters, and then researches on the reaction of them towards cultural clash and the results come forth. By doing all this, it finally finds the right way to react to cultural clash.
论文撰写提纲
1. Introduction
2. Conflict Between American Innocence and European Sophistication
Historical Origin.
2.1 Definition of Innocence
2.2 Conflict Represented in Daisy Miller
Conflict in Setting
Conflict in Conversation
Conflict in Communication Means
3. The American Wild Flower Withered in the Battle Against Sophistication
4. Compromise as an Alternative and the Value Loss when Compromising
Superior Loneliness—Mrs. Costello
Mingled with the Throng of Europeans—Mrs. Walker
Caught Between Dream and Reality---Winterbourne
5. Conclusion
主要参考文献
[1] Howells, William Dean. Henry James [EB/OL]. http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/henry/j2zh/, 2003.
[2] James, Henry. Preface to the New York Edition [EB/OL]. http://www.newpaltz.deu/`hathawar/daisy0.htm1#fp, 2004.
[3] Wayne,Theoderek. At First, Second, and Third Sight: Observational Refinement in “Daisy Miller” [EB/OL], daisy/essay1.htm/, 2003.
[4] Weisbuch, Robert. Winterbourne and the Boom of Manhood in Daisy Miller [EB/OL]. http://www.pinkmonkey. com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmDaisyMiller02.asp/, 2005.
[5] 常耀信. 美国文学简史[M]. 天津: 南开大学出版社, 2005.
[6] 亨利·詹姆斯. 黛丝·米勒[M]. 北京: 外研社出版社, 2000.
[7] 李宜燮. 美国文学选读[M]. 天津: 南开大学出版社, 1999.
[8] 朱永涛. 英语国家社会与文化入门（第二版）[M]. 北京: 高等教育出版社, 2005.

论文进度安排
1、2006年12月，撰写写作任务书、开题报告；
2、2007年1-3月，撰写初稿；
3、2007年3-4月，初定二稿；
4、2007年4月，拟定终稿；
5、2007年5月，论文答辩。
指导教师意见

该论文思路清晰，观点明确新颖，同意开始写作

指导老师签字：
年 月 日
系审核意见

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教务处制表

中国防卫科技学院
本科毕业论文(设计)任务书

姓 名
许静
学号
03001105072
系别
英语与旅游管理系
专 业
英语
指导教师
梁颖慧
职 称
讲师
论文题目
Fight or Compromise—When American Innocence Encountering European Sophistication

论文
主 要
内 容

Daisy Miller is the representative work of Henry James which deals with his famous international theme. The novella tells a story of an innocent American girl, when visiting Europe, was rejected by the American circle in Europe and finally died in Rome. The novella represents to us the cultural clash American people may confront when they visit Europe as what they called as the grand tour in that age. When facing this cultural clash or we may call it confliction between American innocence and European sophistication, different people choose the different way to react to it. This paper is going to talk about the choices of fight and compromise, and the possible results may occur if choose one of the two. The heroine of the novella, Daisy Miller, reacts to the conflict in a manner of fight and decisively sticks to her innocence and natural spontaneity. Her behaviors go beyond the endurance of her fellow country people living in Europe, and they finally decide to discard her from their circle. Her fight, though leads directly to her final fate of death, is more worthy compared with those who compromise. Rather than losing value of one’s life and humanity, Daisy finally gained the understanding of her friend and retained her innocence which made Europe seemed more beautiful.

主 要
参 考
文 献
[1] Howells, William Dean. Henry James [EB/OL]. http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/henry/j2zh/, 2003.
[2] James, Henry. Preface to the New York Edition [EB/OL]. http://www.newpaltz.deu/`hathawar/daisy0.htm1#fp, 2004.
[3] Wayne,Theoderek. At First, Second, and Third Sight: Observational Refinement in “Daisy Miller” [EB/OL], daisy/essay1.htm/, 2003.
[4] Weisbuch, Robert. Winterbourne and the Boom of Manhood in Daisy Miller [EB/OL]. http://www.pinkmonkey. com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmDaisyMiller02.asp/, 2005.
[5] 常耀信. 美国文学简史[M]. 天津: 南开大学出版社, 2005.
[6] 亨利·詹姆斯. 黛丝·米勒[M]. 北京: 外研社出版社, 2000.
[7] 李宜燮. 美国文学选读[M]. 天津: 南开大学出版社, 1999.
[8] 朱永涛. 英语国家社会与文化入门（第二版）[M]. 北京: 高等教育出版社, 2005.

写 作
进 度
安 排

1、2006年12月，撰写写作任务书、开题报告；
2、2007年1-3月，撰写初稿；
3、2007年3-4月，初定二稿；
4、2007年4月，拟定终稿；
5、2007年5月，论文答辩。

教研室审定意见:

教研室主任签字:
年 月 日
教务处制表

Contents
摘 要 …………………………………………………………………………i
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………….…ii
Introduction………………………………………………………………………....1
1. Conflict Between American Innocence and European Sophistication…………...2
Historical Origin...................................................................................................2
1.1 Definition of Innocence…………………………………………………….. 4
1.2 Conflict Represented in Daisy Miller……………………………………….4
1.2.1 Conflict in Setting………………………………………………..…....5
1.2.2 Conflict in Conversation………………………………………..….….5
1.2.3 Conflict in Communication Means………………………………........6
2. The American Wild Flower Withered in the Battle Against
Sophistication......................................................................................................7
3. Compromise as an Alternative and the Value Loss if Compromise………….…..12
3.1 Superior Loneliness—Mrs. Costello…………………………………….….13
3.2 Mingled with the Throng of Europeans—Mrs. Walker……………………..14
3.3 Caught Between Dream and Reality---Winterbourne……………………....14
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..15
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...17
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………..18

摘 要

黛丝·米勒是亨利·詹姆斯在著名的国际题材方面的代表作。这篇中篇小说讲述了一个单纯简单的美国女孩，在游历欧洲期间，遭到欧洲的美国人圈子排斥，最终客死于罗马的故事。小说向读者展示了当18世纪南北战争后的美国人进行他们所谓的“大旅行”，游访欧洲的时候可能遭遇到的文化冲击。当面对这种美国式的单纯与欧洲式的世故之间的冲突时，不同的人会采取不同的应对策略。本文旨在讨论当遭遇这种冲突时，应当采取斗争的态度还是妥协的态度，以及两种选择所能产生的后果。小说中的女主人公黛丝·米勒以战斗的姿态应对这个冲突，并坚定与她所固有的天真与自然性。她的所作所为超过了旅居欧洲的美国人的容忍范围，他们于是决定将黛丝排挤出他们的交际圈子。黛丝·米勒的斗争尽管最终导致了她的死亡，却比那些妥协于世故的美国人更有价值。比起妥协的过程中或多或少地失去人生价值，黛丝·米勒最终获得了朋友的理解，并保持住了那份珍贵的天真和自然。

【关键词】冲突 天真 世故 斗争 妥协

Abstract

Daisy Miller is the representative work of Henry James which deals with his famous international theme. The novella tells a story that an innocent American girl, when visiting Europe, was rejected by the American circle in Europe and finally died in Rome. The novella represents to us the cultural clash American people may confront when they visit Europe in what they called as the grand tour in that age. When facing this cultural clash or we may call it confliction between American innocence and European sophistication, different people choose the different ways to react to it. This paper is going to analyze the choices of fight and compromise, and the possible results that may occur if choose one of the two. The heroine of the novella, Daisy Miller, reacts to the conflict in a manner of fight and decisively sticks to her innocence and natural spontaneity. Her behaviors go beyond the endurance of her fellow country people living in Europe, and they finally decide to discard her from their circle. Her fight, though leads directly to her final fate of death, is more worthy compared with those who compromise. Rather than losing value of her life and humanity, Daisy finally gained the understanding of her friend and retained her innocence which added elements of beauty to European world.

Key Words：Conflict Innocence Sophistication Fight Compromise

19

Introduction

It was the time after the Civil War (1861-1865) in 1860s, when the economy of America, especially that of the industrial north began to recover and even to prosper. The so-called Gilded Age, which Mark Twain has mentioned in his book, totally overthrew the established genteel social structure and had given rise to a new class of American businessmen, as we call as nouveau riche. Due to the changes caused by the new industries and wealth, the stylish families of the nouveau riches suddenly found themselves lifted in to an upper class to form a new American aristocracy. Different from the aristocracy in Europe which is based on inherited nobility, the “from-grass-to-class” change to the American aristocracy was largely or completely based on money. This factor, on one hand enables the families to take what they called as “the grand tour” to explore the art and culture of the Old World and to socialize in the upper class circles, which caused the amount of Americans visiting Europe to reach a record high in those days; on the other hand, these newly born “aristocrats” were lack of education as well as the refined behavior which had been established for centuries in Europe and were highly expected in the upper class. This would not cause too many problems in America, since numerous families were just the same, but things were completely different when they arrived at Europe, where manners and social rules were far more rigid, and the long-established group of Americans had already fit that behavior to the European standard. This ultimately, led to the intense clash between the cultures of the America and Europe.
The author of the novella, Henry James, who has lived through this period, luckily had been given the chance to acquaint himself with those classes and was able to live comfortably both in Europe and America. In this sense, he was the right person to write a story about this international theme he is being famous for.
Born into a wealthy cultured family, with his father being an eminent philosopher and reformer, and his brother being a famous philosopher and psychologist, Henry James lived through his life without worrying about money. This family background, the formal education and experiences he received from his father and brother allowed him to come into contact with many of the literary greats of the time. Among them, there are American writers like William Dean Howells, Henry Adams, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Thackeray, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Thomas Sergeant Perry. More importantly, as he was exposed to European culture at a very early age, he also became acquainted with many Europe’s literary giants like Ivan Turgenev, Emile Zola, George Eliot and Matthew Arnold. Due to the experience he gained by this wide literary scope and the later part of his life spent in Europe, James developed his international theme of cross continental comparison and obtained universal fame.
Daisy Miller was James’s first work which had brought him instant success and great recognition. In his usual witty tone, James told the tragedy of the young American lady, Daisy Miller, pretty, uncultivated, innocent and natural, when visiting Europe, is rejected by the American society abroad because of her wild behavior and ignorance of social codes, and the rejection finally leads to her death. This idea, in fact, was originated from a gossip James heard from a friend in Rome, Alice Bartlett, during the autumn of 1877, who informed him that an uncultivated young American girl who had visited Rome the previous winter, had “’picked up’ by the way side, with the best conscience in the world, a good-looking Roman, of vague identity, astonished at his luck, yet all innocently, all serenely exhibited and introduced: this at last till the occurrence of some small social check.” This little gossip and Miss Barlett’s expectation for him to “Dramatize, dramatize!”, instantly struck his inspiration and led to the creation of the young flirtatious Daisy Miller, and the piece of note he jotted down for the gossip finally, through his master hand, turned into the prominent novella Daisy Miller.
The novella became so popular that, as James’s best friend William Dean Howells had commented that the society was soon divided into “Daisy Millerites and anti-Daisy Millerites.” When writing about James in his article, Howells spared no efforts on highly praising him, and noted,
“We can only make sure that we have here an annalist, or analyst as we choose, who fascinates us from his first page to his last, whose narrative or whose comment may enter into any minuteness of detail without fatiguing us, and can only truly grieve us when it ceases.” Howells, William Dean. Henry James. http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/henry/j2zh/, 2003.

Based on the reasons listed above, this thesis is going to talk about the cultural clash the Americans met with in Europe, their reaction to the clash and the result came forth respectively.

1. Conflict Between American Innocence and European Sophistication
By searching into the question of what people will act and what consequence may come after when they are facing the conflict between American innocence and European sophistication, this thesis is heading towards the conclusion that to fight is the more valuabl