What is the significance of Henry James’ portrayal of American identity abroad in ‘Daisy Miller’?

James’ American tourists in Vevey are described as enacting a cultural invasion. In comparing Vevey to the American towns of Newport and Saratoga, James highlights the oversaturation tourism brings upon the town. The excessiveness that is alluded to in the ‘extremely numerous’ quantity of American visitors taints their portrayal, especially as Vevey is said to assume ‘some of the characteristics of an American watering place’, a statement which has double connotations. On one hand, it likens Vevey to a civilised space of social gathering, while on the other it gives American tourists an animalistic quality, as if the town is a watering hole to satisfy tourists’ basic needs. James’s description of American girls further plays on an animalistic characterisation as they are likened to birds, ‘flitting hither and thither’, ‘rustling’ and associated with the ‘sound of high pitched voices’. This compares the girls to birds that have migrated, touching on similarities such as the seasonal act of communal migration and the ease of travel. However, contrasting against this American background there is a distinct tension built by James who chooses to separately describe ‘neat German waiters, who look like secretaries of legation; Russian princesses sitting in the garden; little Polish boys walking about held by the hand with their governors’. While there is internationalism and multiculturalism represented in this image, there is no sense of intermingling, for each nation is discernible and distinct. Thus, the simile of the German waiters ‘who look like secretaries of legation’ carries with it an undertone of a need for diplomacy, which suggests that this meeting of cultures needs intermediaries.Placing his American characters in an alien environment gives James the opportunity to show the reader what distinguishes Americans from European nationalities. To this end, Winterbourne represents American national identity. Winterbourne enjoys a blasé existence, for the words ‘idle’, ‘liberty’ and ‘charming’ are all associated with his personality. The most strenuous activity that he has to complete is to finish his cup of coffee – ‘at last he finished his coffee’ – emphasised by the dramatic conclusion the phrase ‘at last’ gives to such a trivial activity. The most notable part of James’s description of Winterbourne is an idyllic perfection which seems too good to be true. An example of this is the declaration, ‘when his enemies spoke of him, they said—but, after all, he had no enemies; he was an extremely amiable fellow, and universally liked’. Winterbourne’s perfect social image is condemned by James as unrealistic, by exaggerative language such as ‘extremely’ and ‘universally’. This irony leads the reader to consider James’s representation of American national identity as satiric. The little boy that Winterbourne encounters also represents American national identity, but in this instance it is a much less refined illustration. The boy is characterised as brash and attention grabbing, with ‘sharp little features’ ‘a pair of bright penetrating little eyes’ and wearing ‘red stockings’ with a ‘brilliant red cravat’. There is a distinct harshness about the boy with the ‘sharp, hard little voice’. Even his actions are violent, thrusting the sharp pointed alpenstock into delicate objects which juxtapose this, such as ‘flowerbeds’ and ‘the trains of ladies dresses’. The syntax of the question he first vocalises - ‘Will you give me a lump of sugar?’ - is direct, not pleading but instructive and demanding. James’s unfavourable representation of American national identity abroad, in its satirical and exaggerated intent, offers a critical stance on the concept of the American abroad.