Analysis of Quoations in the Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby annotated quotations
‘I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’
In one aspect to be a ‘fool’ is to be oblivious to the world around you. In one aspect to be a ‘fool’ is to be oblivious to the world around you. In the quotation Daisy is expressing her concern for her young daughters happiness in the future. It is ironic as she is yearning for her daughter to remain naïve and remain simple minded, qualities a parent wouldn’t typically wish for their child.   In Daisy’s case the way in which she is conscious of her husband’s unfaithfulness causes her great pain, this is due to her possessing understanding and education as it inhibits her ability to remain unaware of what is going on. Therefore Daisy believes that girls who are simple minded have an advantage in the corrupt world that they live in. Daisy tries hard to conform to how she feels others want her to be, this is apparent in the novel towards the end when she struggles for words as she wants to please both Tom and Gatsby. If Daisy was a ‘fool’ she would be unsuspecting of how she is supposed to behave and her life would be far more simplistic, due to her ability she knows that in 1920’s society the male figure is the domineering and that in order to conform she must retain her woe and put on a persona as if nothing is wrong. An interpretation of this can be that she doesn’t want this complexity for her daughter and she would much rather she was oblivious to the world than discontent within it.   Another interpretation would be that she wants her daughter to be the fooler, in a society where the corrupt American dream is apparent and playing the game is the way to the top she feels that for her young girl to be deceptive and a trickster she will go far. The use of ‘beautiful’ also displays the materialistic society in which they live, beauty will get a girl a long way in the world, that education is a disadvantage to one who...