Sunday, November 23, 2014

What is Fitzgerald’s attitude toward the rich? How does your view of Daisy change over the course of the novel?

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said about those who are born rich:

Let me tell you about the very rich. They think they are different from you and me. . . . They think . . . that they are better than we are.

I want to be very clear that Fitzgerald did not say this in The Great Gatsby. However, his narrator, Nick Carraway, depicts the very wealthy Daisy and Tom in the novel in a similar way, as "careless" people who think they are better than everyone else. They use people not of their class for their own convenience and then move on. Any damage they cause, they leave behind for other people to clean up. For example, they simply disappear from Long Island after Myrtle and Gatsby die. Nick is left to take of care of Gatsby's funeral. They never once apologize for the suffering they have caused. When Nick runs into Tom much later, Tom tells him that Gatsby had it coming to him, even though Tom is the one who set him up to be killed by George.
As for Daisy, there are signs from the first chapter that she is deceptive. Nick comes home from the first dinner at her house feeling she has played games with him, and over the course of the novel that perception is fulfilled. We learn that she is morally weak and probably never had any intention of leaving Tom for Gatsby. She most likely used him to get back at Tom for his affairs. When she runs over Myrtle and keeps on going, one feels even less sympathy for her, and even less when she deserts Gatsby. Daisy is a character who one might start out thinking is a victim of Tom but who uses up our goodwill and capacity to feel sorry for her.

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