...in this world, a beautiful little fool" (Fitzgerald 17). These famous words from the beautiful and delicate Daisy have been posted thousands of times on ignorant girls Instagram bios. Amid it's caption with emoji flashes and glitter, it seems that this quote has lost it's meaning in todays world where feminism is a prevalent movement and such ideas are frowned upon.
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| women are anything but innocent these days, from the looks of this picture |
Back in the early nineteenth century, society valued women who were submissive and innocent: they were expected to remain home and take care of children and not have a mind of their own. In a way, Daisy embodies this ideal by avoiding anything that displaces her from her more calm life. She stays out of her husband's affairs while forgetting her real love for Gatsby. She wants her daughter to be free of such "sinful" affairs by being innocent. If a woman doesn't understand the truth and doesn't question her husbands motives and actions (such as where he gets his money), then she is better off being carefree. This applies to the cliche "ignorance is bliss". If you don't know what is going on in the rest of the world (poverty, war, refugees), you have less stress and can focus more on your own *petty* issues. However, is this really better for society as a whole? How about for those around you? Educated people may not be able to live as non-chalantly, but they do get to understand things better without being put to the bottom and demoted as empty-headed.
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| innocence is bliss? |
As the novel progresses, the innocence that women were supposed to have slowly slipped away to more sensual pleasures- such as Daisy's affair with Gatsby. Like many of the women during the Jazz Age, the submissive character was stripped away as a sense of freedom came with the freedom to vote. So maybe ignorance is not bliss after all, for such innocence can cause servitude.
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