Shambhavi's Shells

      As we further looked into the different lenses The Great Gatsby can be viewed through, the feminism lens stood out the most to me, and after I heard another person's opinions on Daisy's character, I started to wonder why F. Scott Fitzgerald went to such lengths to villainize his female characters, especially in The Great Gatsby and The Diamond as Big as The Ritz.      Daisy and Kismine, two characters that held so much potential, were wasted because of Fitzgerald's discontent towards the "New Women" of the 1920s. Daisy had the potential to be an idol towards younger women, she could have guided them out of their confined lives and shown them that women have choices too. The same goes for Kismine, who is portrayed as the girl who has no value for human life, the young and rich girl whose tired of being rich. The failure to bring depth to these characters shows us Fitzgerald's views on women, and how he could possibly see them as prizes to be won by men. &

To Fit in     Jay Gatsby, or should I say James Gatz, is the man who grew up poor and fell in love with Daisy, the "golden girl" who was a part of the secret high society. Gatsby's love for Daisy can be seen as romantic, if social status isn't involved, but was Gatsby's love genuine? Or was he after something else? Dare I say, wealth? Social status?      To fit in, as defined by Google, is to be socially compatible with other members of a group. Now, we sure can say that Gatsby fits in, but the only reason is because of his attained wealth. When speaking about Daisy, Gatsby responds with, "Her voice is full of money" (Page 120). Having a voice full of money is equivalent to being born into money. To Gatsby, Daisy was privileged enough to be born wealthy. Daisy didn't have to struggle to fit into society's standards, something Gatsby tried so hard to achieve.     If we classified both Gatsby and Daisy today, I would say they're both only he