Neither recognized that their failing was that they pursued those goals at the expense of love, responsibility, and honesty. Despite this concern with revealing the destruction wrought by false cultural myths, Nick too embraces certain negative myths without confronting the larger consequences of his choices. Much like Gatsby and Daisy, he chooses empty illusions, attempts to recover an irretrievable past, and disregards moral concerns in favor of his personal well-being.
Simply stated, because Nick believes that Daisy—like other women—has limited options, he does not hold her accountable for her actions. Even more precisely, because he believes that she lacks the free will and the ability to be self-reliant which are necessary prerequisites for independent moral choice, he is able to accept her lack of integrity as an understandable and even appropriate strategy for achieving her goals.
In contrast, his need to believe that he and Gatsby have integrity and the ability to make moral choices leads him to several conflicting conclusions about the degree to which each was responsible for his choices. Significantly, he portrays Daisy as sharing both his notion of female powerlessness and his acceptance of deception as an appropriate way of dealing with that powerlessness. In contrast to Gatsby who saw marriage to Daisy as being the material manifestation of his having achieved success, Daisy subscribes to the version of the dream that applies to women, that marriage to a successful man is not the symbol of success but success itself.
Indeed, Daisy never questions the concept that her only choices are among suitors. Even her single attempt to defy convention, her plan to join Gatsby in New York before he went overseas with the army, is in keeping with her belief that her happiness depended on her having a relationship with a successful man. She is unaware that Gatsby has deceived her about his financial status. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately—and the decision must be made by some force of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality—that was close at hand.
That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position and Daisy was flattered.
Doubtless there was a certain struggle and a certain relief. Both Daisy and Nick fail to acknowledge fully the toll that playing the part of an unthinking dependent woman has taken on Daisy. Playing the role of a beautiful little fool did not bring her happiness any more than it gave her life shape or purpose. Tom had frequently been unfaithful to her, the first time within three months of their marriage.
Perhaps most tragically, Daisy contributes to the perpetuation of the mythology which has denied her her own humanity. She treats her daughter as a beautiful object, bringing her out only for show and then apparently forgetting her. It was never told for certain if the accusations proved true however it proves the she would do anything to better her golf career and overall her inferiority to men.
Similarly, all three women want the same…. While Gatsby is off in the military, selfish Daisy sets aside her love for Gatsby to marry the extremely wealthy Tom Buchanan. The careless couple is secretly having affairs behind the others back, Daisy with Gatsby, as well as Tom with Myrtle Wilson.
She married him in , abandoning Gatsby and all she ever promised him. Her actions at this time show that she was more concerned with her image than with her emotions. Five years later, once Daisy and Gatsby have been reunited with the help of Nick, Daisy becomes unfaithful to her husband and has an affair with her former lover. Scott Fitzgerald intertwines relationships into The Great Gatsby as symbols to epitomize the anchors that drag down marriages and tear apart lives that most people would appreciate.
On the other side of this rendezvous, is a woman who wants to be a part of something that she does not realize she can never be a part of. The mistress and cheating wife, Myrtle Wilson, longs to marry a rich man and be a part of the coveted Secret Society. Due to the fact that her husband lies about being rich, she chose to attempt to build a serious relationship with Tom Buchanan. He discovered that his lovely wife has been lying to him and committed forgery to save his life…at least according to Nora.
That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. Make sure to move beyond the obvious when writing about Jordan —yes, she has a job while Daisy and Myrtle are both married, but what else makes her stand out? Pay special attention to how Jordan is described versus Daisy, Jordan's dialogue, and Jordan's focus—it's clear that Jordan is often focused outward, observing other characters and their interactions, while Daisy tends to be turned inward, with her own emotions.
Despite the progress in women's rights made in the early twentieth century, including the right to vote won in , most women, especially wealthy women, were expected to marry, have children, and stay at home. Daisy sticks to this prescribed societal role by marrying and having a child. But Jordan plays golf professionally, "runs around the country" and doesn't seem to be in a hurry to marry 1.
In short, on the surface, it appears that Daisy is a traditionalist while Jordan is expanding the possibilities of a woman's life. However, Daisy and Jordan aren't exactly a straightforward housewife and career woman duo. First of all, Daisy is quite removed from her role as a mother, since her daughter Pammy is mostly raised by a maid.
She also seriously contemplates leaving Tom during the novel. Meanwhile, Jordan tells Nick at the end of the novel she's engaged. Whether or not this is true, it suggests that Jordan will certainly get married one day, and that her current golf career is just a temporary diversion, not a permanent independent lifestyle.
Indeed, both Daisy and Jordan are also both at the mercy of their families : Daisy derives all of her wealth and power from Tom, while Jordan is beholden to her old aunt for money. They don't actually have much control over their own wealth and would lose everything if they went too far out of line.
So while Daisy and Jordan both typify a very showy lifestyle that looks liberated—being "flappers," having sex, drinking in public which before the s was seen as a highly indecent thing for a woman to do , playing golf professionally in Jordan's case—they in fact are still thoroughly constrained by the limited options women had in the s in terms of making their own lives.
Jordan briefly narrates in Chapter 4. How is Jordan's narration different from Nick's? Why rely on her narration at all?
What would the novel be like from her point of view? Jordan's narration is definitely distinct from Nick's. Her diction is a bit sharper and she has more blatantly judgmental asides , calling Daisy "drunk as a monkey" 4.
She also uses more vivid imagery: the red, white, and blue banners on the houses flapping "tut-tut-tut-tut" in a "disapproving way" 4. Her choice of words is a pretty good insight into her character and how sharply observant she is! So why is there a section narrated by Jordan at all?
Perhaps Nick leans on Jordan because he feels unqualified to talk about Daisy's past. After all, aside from their conversation in Chapter 1, Nick doesn't have close conversations with Daisy. But since Nick gets to know Gatsby through several close conversations, he feels comfortable telling about Gatsby's past. You also get the sense he's washing his hands of whatever Jordan reveals about Daisy.
He doesn't fully trust in the details or really care about Daisy's story, using it only as a means of understanding Gatsby. It's also notable that Nick uses Michealis's point of view to talk about the aftermath of Myrtle's death, which in a similar manner suggests he feels less connected to the Wilsons than he does to Gatsby.
The novel from Jordan's point of view would likely be much less sentimental when it comes to Gatsby. Nick obviously idealizes him by the end while Jordan doesn't seem to see him as anything more than a source of fun and intrigue. We would also likely get a much better sense of Daisy's motivations and thought process throughout the novel, something we barely get access to with Nick's narration. Daisy's motto: if you don't have anything nice to say, come and sit by me.
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In this guide, you'll learn:. Even if you're not actually interested in Ivy League schools, you'll still learn something fundamental about how to apply to college. Read our top college admissions guide today. These are questions that many students have about Jordan after reading Gatsby for the first time. These are points that don't come up as often in essay topics or study guides, so give them a look if you're still wondering about Jordan's feelings and motivations!
Daisy professes her feelings to not one but two men in Chapter 7, and Myrtle makes her attraction to Tom Buchanan clear. Jordan, in contrast, is not one to make her feelings so plainly known, so it's not surprising that many students wonder if she even likes Nick at all. Like Gatsby, Jordan seems drawn to Nick because he presents himself as a stable, honest, and grounded personality in the midst of many larger-than-life, overbearing types.
She even says that she's drawn to him because he's cautious. There's also a part in the book where Nick says that Jordan tends to prefer being with people she can dominate or pull one over on, and Nick does seem to rely on her for emotional strength at some points for example in the car when he's thinking about turning Nick and Jordan break up right at the moment when she can't control his actions —can't make him go into the house, can't make him apologize for ignoring her.
By the end of the book, Jordan does admit that she was rather thrown by the break-up, suggesting she came to have somewhat deeper feelings for him. In fact, their break-up scene is worth looking at in full to really answer this question:. Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess.
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