The Power of a Narrative

When I originally read the story of Daisy Miller, I was looking for similarities in regards to the story of the Mimi's. And I definitely noted numerous similarities. However, as I was looking for those similarities I did not necessarily interpret it the way it was meant to be interpreted. After re-reading the story, I saw that Daisy at first was her own person. Especially as she was first meeting Winterbourne. When Winterbourne met up with her later in their lives the narrator made no mistake to portray Daisy as one who tries to follow social standards. I came to the conclusion that Daisy is determined, independent, and well-meaning, but she can also be trivial, unaware, and naive. The way Nafsi and her students viewed Daisy was similar. Nafsi was intrigued by Daisy's character and was fascinated by the narrator and how they constructed Daisy. On the other hand, some of her students were not a big fan. The student opinion that stood out to me was that of Mr. Ghomi. Mr. Ghomi sees Daisy as "obviously a bad girl; [as she is] reactionary and decadent" (pg. 195). Seeing this I did not agree with his opinion, however it seemed as if some of the other students' opinions were affected by his comments because other comments seemed to be driven by intimidation.

In regards to truth, I understand the truth in a story as how one interprets it. Understanding the meaning behind a story and what the narrator's message is is an important key in finding the truth in a piece of literature. This understanding is important to Nafsi's students because their opinions of Daisy were influenced by another student's opinion. Analyzing the two stories in this manner really brings out my perception of the power of narrative. I've learned that in some way or another narratives are a form of communication between humans. I believe that if every reader fully understood or even made an attempt to understand the message the narrator was trying to get across in a story rather than just reading the story to "finish", that story would be much easier to interpret and therefore more enjoyable.

Michelle Bella