When
I was reading the first chapter of The
Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald, one quote in particular stood out for
me. After Daisy gives birth and finds out that she has a baby girl, she says, “I’m
glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can
be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 17).
This quote stood out to
me since Daisy was wishing something negative upon her newly born baby. I was
expecting that Daisy would want her to be independent or powerful, which was
becoming a more popular and desired trait of women in the 1920’s. Through describing the hope for her daughter, Daisy expresses her acceptance of women’s role in
society. She accepts the view of society preferring females to be the intellectually inferior gender. Therefore, Daisy wants her daughter to be a fool so that she is
ignorant to the way women are treated before she eventually comes to accept it
like Daisy did. She also hopes that the baby will grow up to be beautiful, which
implies that physical traits play a critical role in women’s lives as well. It
affects their worth in society. Daisy believes that acquiring these pathetic
characteristics is the best way for her daughter to be happy, rather than hoping
that she can overcome societal norms and live a better life. This makes Daisy
sound defeated because she has no hope for these kinds of changes in the
future.
