The World of the Play
Manners & Appearances

Etiquette is a system of rules that dictate how people should interact with one another. At the beginning of Driving Miss Daisy it’s 1948 and Miss Daisy Werthan is 72-years of age. This means that she was born in 1876. In the early 1900s, when Miss Daisy was a young women living in Georgia, she would have been highly aware of the rules of social etiquette and made sure that she followed these rules very closely. As a character, Daisy can be described as prim and proper; independent, stubborn, and concerned with how she is perceived by others. Southern manners at the turn-of-the-century involved an extremely complex system of dos and don’ts that upheld the values of the day, such as order and stability; offering hospitality to guests; refinement and delicacy; diction and poise.

Observance, or non-observance, of the minute details and rules of etiquette indicated one’s class and level of consideration for others. The rules of etiquette demanded conformity to certain norms of behavior in order to get along in society. Disregard for the rules of etiquette could be the cause of social ostracism.