The Tragedy of Gatsby and Daisy in The Great Gatsby
Abstract：The Great Gatsby is one of the best works of F.Scott Fitzgerald in both thought and art, which is universal. In order to describe the restlessness of the “lost generation” in the “roaring twenties”, the author created several typical tragic characters. This paper focuses on the analysis of the tragic fates of two leading characters—Gatsby and Daisy. It aims to reveal despair and doom of men and women living in a society in which the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpass the other more noble goals.
简介：《了不起的盖茨比》一书无论在思想还是艺术方面来说都是菲茨杰拉德最佳作品之一，这一点是为世人所知晓的。为了描述生活在喧嚣的二十世纪的“迷惘的一代”，作者创造了一系列典型的悲剧人物。本片论文集中分析两大主角－盖茨比和黛茜的悲剧命运。旨在揭示生活在一个欲望膨胀、享乐至上的社会里的人们的无限欲望和宿命。
Key words: The Great Gatsby; Gatsby and Daisy; tragedy
关键词：《了不起的盖茨比》; 盖茨比和黛茜；悲剧
Theoretical Framework
There is no clear definition about the feminism, as the British author and critical Rebecca West remarks, “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is.” Although it is hard to give a thorough definition, the core can be summed up as “men and women should be equal in economy, politics, and society.”It asserts that women and men should have equal access to education, equal pay, better working conditions and females are unable to be free due to their financial dependence on males in society. It also tends to support women and men have an equal partnership in marriage. As Virginia Woolf said, “compared to men，women have material disadvantages.’’ She also thinks that patriarchy is the root of inequality between men and women, or more specifically, women are dominated by men in society. She views patriarchy as dividing rights and privileges of gender, and as a result, women are oppressed and men are privileged (Selden 125).
1. Introduction
Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby became an immediate classic and pushed its young author to a fame that he never again equaled. The novel is narrated in retrospect by a young man named Nick Caraway. He comes to New York City in spring of 1922 and becomes involved in the life of his neighbor at Long Island, Jay Gatsby, a very rich man, who lives in a magnificent imitation French villa. Gatsby reveals to Nick, that he fell in love with Nick's cousin Daisy before the war. At that time he was too poor to marry her. Then Daisy married Tom Buchanan, a rich but boring man of good social position. Determined to win his lost love back, Gatsby engaged himself in bootlegging and other “shady” activities, thus becoming a millionaire. He holds dazzling parties every weekend in the hope of alluring the Buchanans to come. They finally come and Gatsby meets Daisy again, only to find that the woman before him is not quite the ideal love of his dreams. A sense of loss and disillusionment comes over him. Then Daisy drives Gatsby’s car, hits and kills Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Gatsby remains silent to protect Daisy. However, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband Wilson it is Gatsby who kills his wife. Wilson murders Gatsby and then commits suicide, and yet the Buchanans escape.
2. Analysis of the leading characters’ tragedy
2.1. Gatsby’s tragedy
Without question, Gatsby’s tragedy is the most noticeable. His dream to win back Daisy’s love is doomed to break. Because at the very beginning, Gatsby’s love for Daisy is partly based on the glamour he associates with the money, and he pursues her by becoming wealthy himself. When Gatsby comes to Daisy’s house the first time, he feels that “there was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors, and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year’s shining motorcars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered.” His passion for Daisy blends with earlier desires for financial success going all the way back to the daily schedule he established as a boy. His dream is completely misguided. When they meet again, Gatsby become a rich man who is still innocent, but the girl—Daisy he pursues merely becomes his empty imagination with symbolic meaning. So what Gatsby wants is not real Daisy, but the Daisy that figured, decorated and glorified in his imagination. This kind of imagination is beyond Gatsby’s ability and power, and it is also beyond the reality. In his heart, Daisy is beautiful and innocent, and she represents all the merits in the upper class of America; in his memory, his love with Daisy is an earthly paradise, which he is willing to sacrifice all his property and energy to reach. But the more beautiful his love dream is, the more unrealistic he is and the more tragic his fate will be. Now in real life, Daisy is but a vulgar capitalistic lady, whose preference for wealth is stronger than any love in her heart, because all her sentiments have become into cold money. Just as Gatsby once comments after their reunion, “her voice is full of money.” But he doesn’t know, it is money that decorates Daisy as a princess, and drives her away from the lives related with miscreant and insecurity. What’s worse, in his whole life, he doesn’t realize that the merits in the upper class he have been admired turns out to be his illusion. Most tragically, he dies as a scapegoat at last, never aware of the unworthiness of seeking true love from the heart numbed by the dirty materialistic society.
2.2. Daisy’s tragedy
Daisy is the key character in the novel—the avatar of Gatsby’s dream, and this just adds her tragedy. Because as far as Gatsby’s concerned, she is more than a woman, but an object combined with his desires for success, money, beauty and love. “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved daisy, and it increased her value in his eyes.” In Gatsby’s eyes, Daisy is like a valuable product which symbolizes the delight brought by luxury and others’ envy. After Daisy’s marriage with Tom, Gatsby starts to make fortunes by illegal means so as to get back Daisy. It’s better to say Gatsby aims to retake a precious possession he once owns in his youth than to say he wants to win back Daisy’s love. Daisy’s tragedy also lies in that she is the victim of the patriarchal family system and extreme materialistic society. When she is an innocent girl, her love is pure and fervent. She plans to see Gatsby off when he is going to the overseas war. However, “she was effectually prevented, but she wasn’t on speaking terms with her family for several weeks.” She tries to oppose her family and wait for Gatsby, but the surroundings exhaust her courage. “She was feeling the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after all.” The pressure forces her to shape her life immediately. Before the marriage with Tom, she receives Gatsby’s letter and she is “as drunk as a monkey”, even throws away a string of pearls valued at ＄35.000 that Tom sends her . But in the end she has no choice but to give in to the pressure of the cruel society. Though her marriage life seems to be grand and abundant, she becomes mentally hollow and miserable. She tells Nick: “she (her baby) was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right, ’I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool. ’” After she suffers her husband Tom’s aloofness and betrayal, she gradually turns cold inside out; even Gatsby’s love can’t warm her.
3. Conclusion
In 1920’s, as this novel The Great Gatsby published, the American economy soared. Money was the only goal which can be achieved by any means. However, the unprecedented wealth brought void into Americans’ mind. So 1920s was a time of gastronomy, a time without any belief, a time for “lost generation”, and a time of tragedies. The tragedy like Gatsby’s and Daisy’s was almost inevitable. Now in China, our GDP and material living standard are becoming increasingly high. But our society is not in harmony. It is a little like the American roaring jazz age. In this money crazy modern times, many people make money from fraud, bribery, exploitation and smuggling. Also in this material world, we are thirsty, worried and lost. Our goals swing to money and materialism too much. We should swing it back to true love, fraternity, righteousness, sincerity and art a little.
References:
F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby ", edition published 1993 by Wordsworth Edition Limited
F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Charles Scribner&apos. New York.1953.
菲兹杰拉德.“了不起的盖茨比.”名著名译插图本丛书. 人民文学出版社. 2004
吴伟仁. 美国文学史及选读. 第二册. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社.2011.
巫宁坤译：“了不起的盖茨比.”菲茨杰拉德小说选.上海译文出版社.1983.
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