”The Golden Girl” was a quote used to reference Daisy many times throughout the book, and is stating that Daisy has always had wealth, and always got her way. Daisy represents the American Dream as she seems to have a perfect life.
Explain how Daisy could be considered clever. Use at least one quote from the text to support your answer.
Daisy could be considered clever because she realises the limits of a woman in her time, and tells Nick this when she says “ I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” She knows that the best thing for a woman to be is a fool, so they don’t realise the unfairness of life, and so they don’t stand up for themselves.
The notes above talk about how Gatsby views Daisy as a possession to be collected. Explain this further. Find a quote from the text to support your answer and explain how the quote supports your ideas.
In the novel, Daisy is regarded as a possession more than a human being many times. This was sadly the norm back in that time, and many people treat Daisy as something to acquire or collect. Part of the reason Gatsby wants to be with Daisy so badly, is because she is seen as an icon of wealth, and he wants to add her to his resume so to speak. A quote about this is the statement “ her voice is full of money” this further supports the notion that Gatsby really only wants Daisy because of her wealth, so he can make himself look better.
Describe what life was like in the 1920’s for women. After you have done so, explain why you think Daisy wants her daughter to be a ‘fool’ in this world.
Life for women in the 1920s was a time where they didn’t get their say, and were constantly treated like objects. Women’s personalities didn’t matter back then, it was how wealthy, and how beautiful you were, that really mattered. Daisy wants her daughter to be a fool, because she doesn’t want her child to be happy and not see the problems women face, rather than know the problems, and therefore live a sad life being treated as a possession.
Towards the end of the novel, Nick says that Daisy and Tom were “careless people…they smashed up things and creatures, and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”. Explain what Daisy ‘smashes up’ (figuratively speaking) in this story.
Daisy ‘smashes up’ her and Toms whole life, as she leads Gatsby on to believe they can be together, which is just not possible. This leads to a final conflict where Daisy runs over Myrtle, another thing she gets away with. It’s Daisy that also leads to Gatsby death, as all this would never have happened if she didn’t feed into Gatsby’s illusion.
Explain how Daisy could be considered ‘amoral’. Use at least two quotes from the text to support your answer.
Daisy is amoral because she doesn’t care what her actions cause if it doesn’t affect her. Nick says at the end of the book that Tom and Daisy are “careless people… they smashed up things…and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” This quote supports that Daisy doesn’t care about the consequences of her actions as she can get away with it and let others clean up her mess. When someone describes Gatsby’s car as the “death car” and said it didn’t stop, it further shows Daisy is amoral as she didn’t even stop after she hit Myrtle driving, she wasn’t concerned about the consequences, as she wouldn’t have to clean them up.
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