Explain why the author, Henry James, would decide to introduce Randolph first to Mr. Winterbourne in Daisy Miller A Study. How does Randolph influence Winterbourne's (and the reader's) initial impression of Daisy shortly thereafter? 

 

By having Winterbourne first meet Randolph instead of Daisy, Henry James is able to establish some indirect inferences about Daisy. She has a younger brother, who is a bit impetuous, as the reader will find Daisy to be. He is a bit manipulative in that he approaches someone he has never met to ask a favor: "Will you give me a lump of sugar?" and with this he pushes his advantage and takes three cubes. This is also very much like his sister as she uses her feminine wiles to get Winterbourne to promise to take her to see the castle. So, in these things, James is able to introduce, in Randolph, some of the traits that the reader (and Winterbourne) will later find in Daisy.

Later, Winterbourne and Randolph are discussing how American things are the best. Randolph says that American candy is the best while Winterbourne says that American boys are the best. The conversation continues and Winterbourne see's Randolph sister and declares that American women are the best.

"She was dressed in white muslin, with a hundred frills and flounces, and knots of pale coloured ribbon." This line indicates that Winterbourne is initially attracted to Daisy Miller because of his expectations of her appearance. This is proven from the words "white, frills and pale colored." What this means is that the color white represents innocence, purity, virginity, and perfection. This is important because all of the words contain a positive connotation which can infer that Winterbourne views Daisy Miller positively because he thinks she is innocent, pure, a virgin and perfect.

The most frequently noted symbols in Daisy Miller are Daisy herself and her younger brother, Randolph. Daisy is often seen as representing America: she is young, fresh, ingenuous, clueless, naïve, innocent, well meaning, self-centered, untaught, scornful of convention, unaware of social distinctions, utterly lacking in any sense of propriety, and unwilling to adapt to the mores and standards of others. These traits have no fixed moral content, and nearly all of them can be regarded as either virtues or faults. However, Randolph is a different matter. He is a thinly veiled comment on the type of the "ugly American" tourist: boorish, boastful, and stridently nationalistic.

This shows that Winterbourne initially judges Daisy's personality based off of her appearance and is attracted to the fact that she has the innocence, purity, sexual experience and perfection that a little girl would have. The most important part of this is that Winterbourne expects Daisy to be a passive and well mannered girl that he would be able to control. He also thinks that she has the manners of an upper class woman meaning that she does not speak out against people and is accepted by the upper classes social norms. These norms would include refraining from being openly sexual and flirting with men.

Winterbourne's "pale colored" description of Daisy's outfit proves his schema of Daisy. Pale, in contrast to bright or bold is rather hidden. It does not have the power to be overpowering and is very limited in attracting attention. This is the same exact way that Winterbourne interprets Daisy's personality, he believes that she is a soft spoken girl who will never be the center of attention. The importance of how Winterbourne describes Daisy's outfit is foreshadowing that Daisy's appearance is not representative of her personality. This is most important because it foreshadows that Daisy breaks the social norms of a woman in the upper class.