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Contradiction between romance and reality is an eternal theme of literature. No matter what time a story takes place, men and women often alienate each other mutually in front of the material value. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and Daisy, the star-crossed lovers, were not exempt.
So far, critics, with striking similar negative views, have already identified Daisy as a typical bad girl. Marius Bewley, for example, refers to Daisy’s “vicious emptiness” and her “monstrous moral indifference.” No doubt that every relationship Daisy involved in had something to do with money, even Gatsby, the man who loved her most, admitted that her voice was full of money. However, if we pay take the historical background into consideration, whether such easy polarization and belittle of Daisy are proper deserves pondering about.
According to Henry F. May, before the war, the three main backbones of the American culture had already been corrupted by the radical social changes. Under the great impact of the the Great War, the American culture and belief easily collapsed. Gatsby fought for his country bravely for five years, but war brought nothing to him. Instead the illegal bootlegging earned him fame and wealth; Daisy and Tom both apparently they did not have the least intention to hide their affairs from others. Shocked by the cruelty of the war and confused by the reorganization of the society, people began to question and rebel the moral system they beheld and indulged themselves to cover their idleness, mental hollowness and scary of the future.
Daisy’s growing up was exactly the typical process of women’s corruption at that time. Suffering from the idleness and empty mind, she became more and more uncertain about her hopeless future. On the other hand, according to Charlotte Perkins Gilman, though the feminist movement progressed a little in the 1920s, women were still in a subordinate statue. In the patriarchal society, Daisy was firstly forced by her family to finish the prearranged marriage despite the letter from Gatsby. After getting married, she was gradually depersonalized by Tom. When she was under such big pressure, Gatsby resurfaced. So the reunion did not seem that simple. No wonder she regarded Gatsby as an opportunity to revenge, a cool rich man on the advertisement totally different from boorish Tom to admire, a savior to help her escape from the temporal world. He is her dream about escaping, about saving, even if love had already been exhausted.
So far, critics, with striking similar negative views, have already identified Daisy as a typical bad girl. Marius Bewley, for example, refers to Daisy’s “vicious emptiness” and her “monstrous moral indifference.” No doubt that every relationship Daisy involved in had something to do with money, even Gatsby, the man who loved her most, admitted that her voice was full of money. However, if we pay take the historical background into consideration, whether such easy polarization and belittle of Daisy are proper deserves pondering about.
According to Henry F. May, before the war, the three main backbones of the American culture had already been corrupted by the radical social changes. Under the great impact of the the Great War, the American culture and belief easily collapsed. Gatsby fought for his country bravely for five years, but war brought nothing to him. Instead the illegal bootlegging earned him fame and wealth; Daisy and Tom both apparently they did not have the least intention to hide their affairs from others. Shocked by the cruelty of the war and confused by the reorganization of the society, people began to question and rebel the moral system they beheld and indulged themselves to cover their idleness, mental hollowness and scary of the future.
Daisy’s growing up was exactly the typical process of women’s corruption at that time. Suffering from the idleness and empty mind, she became more and more uncertain about her hopeless future. On the other hand, according to Charlotte Perkins Gilman, though the feminist movement progressed a little in the 1920s, women were still in a subordinate statue. In the patriarchal society, Daisy was firstly forced by her family to finish the prearranged marriage despite the letter from Gatsby. After getting married, she was gradually depersonalized by Tom. When she was under such big pressure, Gatsby resurfaced. So the reunion did not seem that simple. No wonder she regarded Gatsby as an opportunity to revenge, a cool rich man on the advertisement totally different from boorish Tom to admire, a savior to help her escape from the temporal world. He is her dream about escaping, about saving, even if love had already been exhausted.