SOURCE: "Jamesian Feminism: Women in 'Daisy Miller'," Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 16, No. 4, Fall, 1979, pp. 281-87.

In the following essay, Barnett asserts that James proposes more options for women in Daisy Miller than in any of his other stories or novels.

Although Henry James satirizes the idea of a women's movement in The Bostonians, his constant exploration of the tension between individual self-realization and social restriction often focuses upon the way in which society particularly shapes the behavior of women. A number of James's heroines must give up some degree of personal fulfilment and freedom because of social realities. The fine spirit of Isabel Archer is "ground in the very mill of the conventional," just as Marie de Vionnet, another valued heroine, must be sacrificed to Chad Newsome's social obligations of marriage and career. Kate Croy and Charlotte Stant struggle against the limitations placed upon them by their...