The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pages 13-21
"And I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool," (Fitzgerald, 17).
As we get a glimpse at the beginning of social interactions between the characters in the story, we are introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Tom Buchanan. Although Nick and Daisy are cousins, they barely have any idea of who the other is except for what they have been told and what is rumored. But by the end of the evening, Nick (or at least the proactive reader) has discovered the unhappiness of his cousin in her marriage. Her husband is pursuing a seemingly public affair while she is imprisoned at home by the shackles of women's role in 1920 society.
At a time when the role of women in society was changing, Daisy Buchanan is caught between her own desires and those of her provincial husband. Wishing to break away from the normalcy and live life for herself, Daisy confides her struggle to her two friends. Her advice to her child further emphasizes this point by hinting that a fool who did not realize the situation in which she finds herself would be much happier than she ever would be.
This part is added into the story to set the stage for the upcoming happy reunion between Mrs. Buchanan and Gatsby which I connected after reading further ahead in the story.
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