Blog #2
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, specific portraits of both characters and locations present an intriguing critique of America ideals. The object of Gatsby’s affection, a promiscuous young woman named Daisy, resorts to dating many men once her destitute lover Gatsby leaves for war. By illustrating Daisy’s volatile relationships as moving “with the season”, Fitzgerald is portraying the attitude depicted in the “flappers” of the 1920’s: that women are no longer dependent upon one single man, and now have the opportunity to remain independent of masculine control. This deliberate word choice illustrates the changing of times present in the author’s time period, where further analysis allows the reader to glimpse the author’s disdain towards said women’s behavior. Next, Fitzgerald’s use of repetition in the phrase, “half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men” (151) serves to expound upon the frivolity present in Daisy’s life. Adding on to the imagery produced in the previous statement, this hyperbolic description of Daisy’s behavior further conveys the forlorn tone in the paragraph, as Fitzgerald depicts Daisy’s pathetic attempts at finding happiness through shallow relationships. Lastly, Fitzgerald chooses to include the detail that Daisy is laying next to a pile of “dying orchids” (151). These dying orchids represent the author’s tenor towards the ideas present in Daisy as a character, for her behavior leads to the degradation of her as person, as shown through her relationships with her husband and daughter. To conclude, the purposeful phrasings presented by the author reflect his forlorn and dejected tone towards Daisy in this section.
Personally, I interpret Fitzgerald's tone as sardonic because of his cynical and often humorous word choice. Much like you were saying, Andrew, I concur that he does this to convey the image of a 1920's "flapper," as well as the somewhat outrageous behavior of most people of the epoch. Authentic and insightful, I commend your analysis of the "dying orchids," since you view the bitter diction as an omen, so to call it, of his dislike for Daisy. Furthermore, I would continue to say that his portrayal of Daisy is not only for her fitting--but for the generation of women who lived as she did, fascinated by wealth, obsessed with class, and seized by a malicious spontaneity.
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